18. For Now
The sun broke the horizon, and I opened my eyes as the first rays of light streamed through and caught on pink frilly curtains. I lifted my head up and looked around. Pink curtains, pink bed sheets, an explosion of dolls pouring out of a toy chest… If it wasn’t for the blue crystal walls and the fact that it was twice as large, it would’ve been a perfect recreation of my room in Mom’s old boutique.
“Ah, you’re up,” Mom said, drawing my eyes to the little corner of the room she was sitting in. “Good. How are you feeling?”
I yawned. “A little tired.” Spending half the night flying and the other half fighting Night Terrors didn’t exactly make for a super restful sleep. Still, the exhaustion usually ended after a few hours, and if it didn’t, a few more cups of coffee usually helped. “And…” I tilted my head. “Did you spend all night watching me sleep?”
She laughed and shook her head. “Of course not, Sweetie. I just checked in between helping Twilight with some spellwork and speaking with Scootaloo.” Her eyes narrowed. “That took up most of my night.”
“Wait,” I said, stumbling out of bed. “Scootaloo’s here? I thought she’d be getting ready for her race, or… I didn’t think she’d follow me.”
“Yes, well, I suppose you’re more important to her than an annual race and a rivalry,” Mom said, getting to her own hooves. “But I’m sure you can speak with her about it later.” She paused. “That is, assuming you do wish to speak with her. If not, I can send her away or tell her to wait, depending on your wishes.”
“No, that’s fine,” I said, shaking my head and taking a breath. “After last night, I think I know what I want to say to her.”
“And speaking of which, is there any chance you can tell me just what transpired last night? I gather that you touched a soul gem, spoke with somepony, then came back and ordered Twilight to cast a sleep spell on you to save Luna from something,” Mom said. “Also, can I get you anything?”
“Uhmm, I’d like to see those journals,” I said, looking from her to the door. “And… yeah, I guess I do have a story to tell you.” Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to tell it that many more times. Maybe once more with Scootaloo, but we had other things to take care of first. “So, it all started with the first day of school at Princess Luna’s Academy…”
♪♪♪
Mom listened to my story as she led me to the library, pulled up seats for us, and started a fire – I requested the fire around the point I was explaining my Dreaming powers. She didn’t see the point of a fire on the last day of spring, but I insisted – I think it took maybe an hour for me to go over everything, and she took it pretty well. Probably shock.
“I… see,” Mom finally said. “Well, that’s certainly not what I expected, but…” She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t make that much more sense, either, although it does explain why the emerald’s spell matrix dissolved after you came back. Twilight and I were worried that… Never mind, we were worried about something, and it turned out to be silly and unfounded.”
“What?” I asked, looking at her. Mom’d arranged two chairs around the fire with a little book table between them to support the journals. “Come on.”
“Well, you know how you made a deal with…” Mom paused before using the name. “‘Smartie’ that if she won the duel, a piece of her could return with you?” I nodded. Of course I did. I’d been there. “Well, Twilight had some similar worries. Thankfully, nothing like that happened.”
She smiled at me. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to explain to all my petitioners that court’s been cancelled for the day, and take a much-deserved nap. I’ll let the staff know if they see Scootaloo wandering around the halls to send her your way.”
“Thanks,” I said, smiling as she trotted out of the room and waiting for the doors to close before taking the first journal, spreading it wide, and floating it into the fire where the flames gave a nice whoosh. I glanced back at Twilight’s desk and saw the emerald sitting right in the center, a bunch of weird magic things forming a circle around it. If it was safe, maybe Mom’d let me keep it as a little reminder. My gaze turned back to the fire as the first journal crackled really nicely. I’d have to clean up after myself, because if Twilight ever learned her fireplace had been used to burn books, she might actually kill me.
What was even in them? More plans? Ways to take over Equestria? Maybe warning signs to steer clear of this pony or not trust that pony when they say this thing. Ways to ascend to become an alicorn? Secrets of immortality? Smartie seemed like the type of pony who’d be all about that.
As the first journal turned to ash, I floated the second one in. Maybe they were blank. Maybe Smartie just needed them as diversions? Something to distract me from the main journal. Possible, but that didn’t seem like Smartie, either. Not that I knew her for that long. Maybe an hour or two, maybe thirteen years, depending on how you looked at it. I could just check. Open up one of the journals and take the tiniest peek at what she’d written. She could have written a journal all about what happened to me if I didn’t take her offer as a contingency plan. Perhaps a few hints on what to do about Scootaloo?
I threw the next journal on the fire. Maybe she did. Maybe the book next to me had a secret to eternal happiness that didn’t involve lying and manipulating. I’d never know. I never wanted to know. I heard the door creak open and lifted my head to see Scootaloo slink into the room. Had she ever slunk anywhere?
“Hey,” she finally said, waving a little hoof at me. I waved back.
“Hey,” I said back. “Do you want to sit down? I’ve got a nice little fire going.”
“Sweetie, it’s almost summer. How are you not sweating through that chair?” she asked, taking a few steps closer to me.
I laughed. “Oh, I’m definitely sweating,” I said, wiping a thin layer of perspiration from my brow. “But how else am I going to burn these journals? Kind of need a fire for burning things.” I paused and kicked a hoof dangling off my chair. “Well, I guess I could just use my magic, but that doesn’t seem as fun.”
“Alright, I’ll bite,” she said, hopping into the chair as I tossed journal number four into the fire. “Why are you burning journals?”
“It’s a long story, and maybe we’ll get to it later, but let’s just say I had a crazy day after I stormed off. Speaking of which, there are some things we need to talk about,” I said, looking at her.
“Yeah…” she said, drawing the word out to be as long as possible before going quiet. “Did you… Did you mean everything you said yesterday?”
I nodded. “I did,” I said before tilting my head. “Except the thing about not regretting throwing myself in front of your scooter. I felt awful about it, I just… I didn’t feel like I had any other choice. If I didn’t, I thought Diamond Tiara was going to tell you how I’d been manipulating you, and then you’d break up with me, and I would have done anything to keep that from happening. I did do anything to keep that from happening.” Scootaloo just looked at me, an unasked question in her eyes. “And it turns out, I kind of hallucinated Diamond Tiara, so I didn’t actually need to do anything crazy.”
“Okay,” she said, closing her eyes and trying to get her mind to wrap around what I’d said. “So… I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since yesterday, and I get that I screwed up and put you in a really bad place, but why didn’t you tell me? Why did you have to do all the crazy scheme stuff?”
“Because it’s what she’s good at,” an echo of Bright Lights said, barely audible before fading away.
“Because I was afraid if I told you the truth, told you you were hurting me, that you’d leave me for ‘my own good,’” I said, shaking my head. “That you’d walk away because you didn’t want to ‘jeopardize my recovery’, and then I’d lose the only friend I had left.”
She rolled her eyes and leaned over to bonk me on the horn. “Sweetie, after all the shit we’ve been through, I wouldn’t have just walked away like that. I would have forced you to sit down and talk with me.”
Oh. “Oh,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. “That… Uhmm… Have I mentioned I can be a little crazy sometimes?”
“Yeah, well, apparently, so can I,” Scootaloo said. I just smiled at her. “So, what are we going to do?”
I swallowed down a bubble of fear. “If you want to leave or go back to being friends, I’m okay with that, but I’d really like it if you stayed in that chair so we could talk things out and give us one last shot.”
She smiled at me. “Nowhere else I’d rather be right now.”
“Alright,” I said, nodding my head. “Well, if we’re doing this, we’ll need to have rules, and I’m not talking about the rules we had last time. Like, I don’t want to humiliate you anymore. It’s not good for me, and I don’t think it’s good for you either, and if you need to be humiliated to be with me, then we’re just not going to work.”
“So… No more Mistress Sweetie?” Scootaloo asked, relief and disappointment mixing on her face.
“I think she’s going into retirement,” I said, grabbing the next journal with my magic and throwing it into the fire. “Maybe I can see about bringing her out once a month, but if I do, she’s not leaving the bedroom.”
“Then what are we going to do the rest of the time?” she asked, looking from me to the fire as the book combusted.
“What everypony else in a relationship does: listen to each other, love each other, and do our best to meet each other’s needs,” I said as the woosh of heat from the burning journal died down. “When we get back to Manehattan, I’m going to buy…” The word snagged in my throat. “A thing for you, and I’m going to do my best to use it, but we can’t just be a one-way street anymore.”
“That’s…” I saw the way her body tensed up as she looked away. “That’s going to be hard for me.”
“I know it is,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “And I’m going to work with you on it. We’ll ease you into it, but you are going to do your best. We both are. That’s the only way this can work.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding her head but looking away. “I just… I don’t know if I can.”
I laughed and leaned in to kiss her cheek before stopping myself. I couldn’t feel that tensing, not right now. “I know you can,” I said, “and do you know why?” She looked at me. “Because you’re Scootaloo, and you’ve done everything you’ve set your mind to. This is just another challenge for you to roll over. Plus, you’ll have me cheering you on the entire time.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling and leaning in a bit closer to me and taking a small step to bridging the divide between our chairs. Beneath us were the two remaining journals, hers and mine. I tossed mine into the fire. “Don’t know what I’d do without you next to me.”
“Yeah,” I said, blinking an irritation out of my eyes. “We were a pretty good team back then, weren’t we? Maybe after this, we can stop by and see how Apple Bloom’s doing. Maybe even visit the clubhouse for old time’s sake.”
“Sure,” she said, nodding her head. “So, is there anything–”
“I like hugging ponies,” I said before she could finish. “That’s who I am, I like touching, it makes me feel better, and if you’re dating me, there probably won’t be a single second where I don’t want to touch you or hug you or kiss you, and I get that that’s not you, so I’m going to try not to all the time, but I just can’t… If I have to feel you tense up every time I try to show how much I love you, I’m going to go crazy.”
“Then I’ll do my best not to,” she said, looking to the fire for a second. “It’s not… I’ve never been the best with touching anyways, especially not sensitive touching stuff with mares, but I’ll get used to it. It’s just like breaking in a new helmet, right?”
“Scootaloo, I have no idea about what it’s like, I just know you can do it,” I said, looking up her with a head that felt five pounds lighter. I smiled and put my hoof on the journal with her cutie mark on it. If Smartie did leave any information about our future together, it would be in this one. “You want to throw this into the fire with me?”
“Uhmm… maybe,” she said, looking down at the journal. “Want to tell me what’s in it?”
“No idea,” I said, grinning. “It was written by Smartie Belle, so for all I know, it has every little thing we need to know to make our relationship work. A whole lifetime of advice so we never have a single fight.”
“Wait,” she said, shaking her head and looking at me like I’d lost my mind again. “We’re trying to figure out how to make our relationship work, and you’re telling me you won’t even look inside a book that could have the answer to all our problems.”
“Basically,” I said, keeping my eyes on her as she stared down at the journal, a shock of magenta mane falling over her eyes. “I don’t know what’s in it, but I know it was written by all the worst parts of me: my fear, my doubt, my manipulations. It’s the last page to a really long chapter of my life, and I want to close it with you.” I tilted my head. “Then burn it.”
“But what if this isn’t enough?” she asked. “What if it has something we need later? If it wasn’t for Smartie Belle, I couldn’t have saved you, so what if she knew something–”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I won’t read another word she’s written, and… maybe we won’t make it. It’s going to be hard, and a lot of couples with a lot less to overcome don’t.” Scootaloo froze, looking at me like I’d just smacked her with something vulgar. “But we’re here right now, and we love each other, and that’s all I could want.” Her hoof reached out to touch mine, and a thrill ran through my heart.
The two of us leaned forward, finally bridging the divide between our chairs as our lips met, tension free, and we melted into each other’s touch, while somewhere far away, our future burned.
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Is this the end of the Orchestra-verse fics then?
Man it has been a great ride, 10/10
Ah, Sweetie. You are so mercifully free from the ravages of intellect. Your heart is pure and your head is empty. You can't beat a combination like that -see any romance novel.
Me, I'd be worried that my smarter self thought my possible futures were so bleak that this was the best alternative.
7516219 Okay, I don't like your referring to Sweetie as empty headed. Making peace with the transcience of all things and deciding not to let fear of the future rob you of the joy of the present isn't stupidity. Sweetie might not have been smarter than Smartie, but she was clever enough and wise enough to defeat her. She understood something Smartie couldn't.
*applauds*
7516372 No more 200,000 word fics. Maybe short updates if they come to me. I want to work on my own original works for a while.
Fair enough, I suppose. She isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but she still has the will to live. Taking it one day at a time & getting what happiness there is, that isn't so dumb as all that.
As to burning the notebooks unread. That is either the smartest or the dumbest thing she ever did in her life & dammed if I know which.
Huzzah! I will say that I expected them to break up
Well took me a bit but I finally finished this story. Shame about Smartie. And if you look at it, as noted everything is Octavias fault for everything that happened to everyone. Only issue I really saw wad that Sweetie never confronted Bright Lights. I do look forward to that and getting together with Applebloom if you write the camping trip.
7517490 Sorry, I might not have been clear. At the time, I font have any stories definitively planned. However, I'm not opposed to doing a few shorter updates to peek at how our characters are doing.
Wow... I just... wow. Those latest chapters... I have to ask, was this the plan all along or did you change anything during the cource of writing?
Anyway, it has been a heck of a ride, and if I may say so, as I have read your work over the years and with this story... you grew a beard as a writer. ExExcellent.
Finally, I have a chance to read the final chapter! I was looking forward to reading it all weekend.
*Spoilers ahead!*
What a perfect ending for a great fic. Sweetie has grown so much in such a short amount of time, but the catalysts to her growth make the timing believable. Meeting her dad, the break up with Scootaloo, seeing exactly what happens when a person/pony lets fear control their lives (via Smartie Belle)...she went through all of that and learned so much. Going up against Smartie was the best thing that happened to her for her recovery. All the manipulation was because she was afraid of ending up alone and unloved, and Smartie was pretty much the embodiment of that fear, and Sweetie Belle realized that she couldn't let that fear rule her, that it could never give her the outcome that she wanted, not for real or for the right reasons.
On a side note, I feel like it was very important that the break up happened before the encounter with Smartie, because when that break up happened, it showed us everything that Sweetie was keeping in. She grew in that moment, and I'm not sure that she would've won against Smartie without that growth, without knowing that she could lose Scootaloo and not manipulate and still be okay. Kudos on writing it like that!
I'm so impressed that they are going to try again now that they both have learned and grown from the mistakes they made before. I'm impressed that Sweetie has taken a stand for herself in their relationship, laid down everything that she would need in the relationship, plus taking Scootaloo's needs in as well. It really shows that they aren't just 'giving it a go' because they don't know what to do without one another. They are trying again because they now know what NOT to do, and that they need to communicate, not manipulate, and not be selfish or distant. It really is the only way they could work, and if they can pull it off, who knows? Maybe that vision that Sweetie had way back when of her and Scootaloo happy together can be the truth!
The burning of the journals. That is a sign more than anything that Sweetie has changed for the better. She doesn't want to manipulate anymore, even when she's literally holding what're quite probably the world's best guides to manipulating right in her hooves. She could've manipulate her way through life to get whatever she wanted, but instead she choose her happiness AND the happiness of others. A wise move indeed.
It's been a wonderful ride, it's a great ending seeing how much Sweetie has matured. I would love to see these characters again 5-10 years later, seeing what will more than likely be a relationship with far less drama and far more steadfast. Plus it'd be awesome to see more of Dreamscape badass Sweetie if possible.
Even if we don't see that in a future oneshot, it's great that that's what this ending chapter implies might happen, though it's more left up to the imagination of what the reader wants to see, which I like as well!
Man, I am going to miss this fic, but at the same time, I can't imagine it ending better than this! Thank you for writing it!
That was the perfect ending. I will be back with more, but I'm just riding high and like, just, I don't know, I really like it.
7528769 I'm really glad you enjoyed it! Those last few chapters were written in a creative frenzy.
Well, that was an unexpected ending. Not quite sure how I feel about it, to be honest. Among other unresolved plot threads, the whole issue of Sweetie's losing her position as a future EoH is still left dangling.
It's over.
What do I do with my life now?
Really though, this was fantastic. I really love how you write your Sweetie Belle. She justifies things to herself over and over again to an infuriating degree while digging herself deeper and deeper into a hole until it all explodes. Granted, that applies more to the Unbearable Lightness than to YoWE. YoWE ended with more of a pop; an extremely satisfying pop, but a pop nonetheless. There was certainly nothing as grand as the Penthouse here, though it can be argued that stopping Equestria from becoming enslaved by herself is pretty grand. You certainly seem to have a knack for making increasingly uncomfortable situations that culminate in such extreme catharsis that I feel genuinely relieved that the fictional horse based on a fictional horse is ok.
Also the hallucinations are written really well. I like how you can't tell at first glance most of the time that they're not real, since it really emulates how they feel to Sweetie. I do hope we get to see her reconcile with her other friends in the future, and I'd like to see Sweetie interact more with her half-sisters. I'm just imagining a scene where Sonnet reveals that she's Sweetie Belle's half-sister and no one believes her but then Sweetie just comes out from behind the building like "hey, Dad told me to take you home." Seems like it'd make for an entertaining one-shot. Apple Bloom, Life Bloom, Diamond Tiara, Melody, Bright Lights, and even Socket and Rusty seem a bit up-in-the-air at this point and I'd love to see them all become friends again.
Either way, great way to follow up the Unbearable Lightness and a great way to end YoWE, and I hope we get to see more in the future. Sorry that this was mostly just admittedly-deserved praise.
7557633 There is a lot more I'd love to write and imagine about this story, and Sweetie does have fun adventures left in her. However, I don't know how willing I am to undermine the ambiguity of the ending. Right now it ends on this note of "Bad things are going to happen to me, but that's okay, because I'm going to get some really good things as well, and I can't let the fear of the bad ruin the good." I like it. That's the point Sweetie needed to be at. If I show her reconciling with all her friends and enjoying some good times, I feel that undercuts the feeling of that ending, and that's my biggest problem.
Anyways, that probably feels silly to you, but feel free to keep showering me with praise. I love external validation.
7564555 Yeah I can understand that reasoning I guess. I still want to see how she interacts with her friends, how they've grown up, how they react to who she is now, etc. but it is ultimately up to you after all.
As for praise, I think you're particularly good at writing disturbing things. Memories of Shadow has insanely disturbing connotations, with the mind control and stuff, and Sweetie Belle's general situation is pretty depressing. I think part of it though is the way you conclude the stories. MoS with her ultimately having a better life even though she's been effectively killed, Sweetie being better off at the end here, and most notably the end of The Unbearable Lightness, because it's not even that the problem's been fixed, it's just that we the reader are free of it. It's such a bizarre but effective way to have an ending that makes you feel good while still having terrible things happening to the main character. I admittedly have a harder time reading your more positive stories like The Diamond in the Stars because I don't get the same feeling of being embroiled in the characters' problems before being lifted out. TUL and YOWE are like swimming in a pool and coming up for air, whereas TDitS is like sitting on the edge of the pool with your feet in the water. They're both enjoyable activities, but the first one gives more of an adrenaline rush. What on Earth am I even talking about at this point? I guess in the end I'm just really invested in this universe's version of Sweetie Belle and I'm a bit bummed that I won't get to see more of her.
7565415 I feel like, in the end, Sweetie's problem is solved. Sure, she doesn't know what the future holds, but she's much more zenith about it. Look at the Sweetie we see back in the very beginning who is terrified of being alone and look at the Sweetie we have now, who accepts that she and Scootaloo probably won't work out and is okay with that, preferring to instead enjoy the moment and not compromise who she is to please other ponies.
7565535 Well I was specifically referring to the Unbearable Lightness there, where even though Sweetie was going off with Bright Lights and ruining herself, the fact that we got out of her head was such a refresher. Maybe the effect works better if you binge the story like I did come to think of it.
Man, that ending was great. Kills me though as I thought I had a few more chapters to download and read till I popped on here and saw it was the last. My hope is you do continue Sweetie's story, definitely one of the best fics I have read here(Quite tough to compete with your other works, but this is definitely my favorite of them).
7576310 Like I sad, I'm not sure how much I want to continue Sweetie's story, because that would mean resolving at least some of the ambiguity of the ending. However, I am pleased to announce that I've gotten my head around a new project that I'm very much enjoying. It's not a story about tiny talking horses, but I should have more information on it in the next few days when I finish the first chapter's rough draft.
Well, this was a ride, I have no idea what to do with my life now. I don't think there are any stories that could match this one or the prequel for me. This was an amazing read, thanks for writing this.
7751365 Thanks for enjoying the story so much. I'm working on my own original work now, but it's going slower than I'd like. At about 40,000 words written so far. Nowhere near enough to my liking.
Wonderful. Somewhere back in there is a "let's" that should be "lets", and a your that should be you're but I was too captivated to point them out at the time. Thank you for writing!
7879853 Hey, you're welcome. Glad someone enjoyed reading this little story I wrote.
You can has review!
8546180
Yes! That part. Sweetie and Scoots have very skewed ideas of gender roles and traits, not because they've been presented with horrid examples (well, Sweetie has) but because they've never really been talked to about this. They assume that all stallions are macho, controlling, and domineering - though it's Sweetie who takes it much to far* - and mares are passive, gentle, and other things. They don't understand that you can be a mare and be 'butch' or more masculine or that a stallion can be feminine. It's a bit scary considering they've been presented with some good examples of breaking stereotypes that can be toxic and diverse examples of expression. Rainbow Dash is an assertive, abrasive female and Rarity is feminine but shrewd, intelligent, and very mature while being a good example of a feminine ideal, but a strong one in the same way that most people would look at Wonder Woman (for example) and agree that just because she's female/feminine doesn't mean she shouldn't be able to be a hero too - a lot of the things that are taught to young children about growing up to be what they want, basically and addressed by transgender people. There's also ponies like Twilight, who despite being comfortable with feminine things (she wears a dress to her birthday and various other dresses to her other parties, something that would be considered pretty feminine in itself) also does many things that don't fall into distinct categories - she's more gender-neutral in behavior/hobbies/presentation than the others.
*Scoots just seems to think they're often more assertive, which can actually be true! Gender roles/conceptions at their lightest (and with some neat historical background) aren't harmful at all, it's when they become rigid or oppressive, etc.
There's also the unhealthy level to which Sweetie and Scoots are taking their relationship thus far, which is partially rooted in their misconceptions of gender and just the roles they have in their relationship. They are both two females, so there's no one who is 'the stallion' but there is someone who is more masculine (Scoots) and that could mean that there's one of them who is more assertive, but assertive doesn't equal abuse, or that one of them has to be shoved into the unhealthy role of a meek, abused, and non-assertive role that borders on a slave just because one of them might be more outgoing or assertive.
This would apply to other relationships too - a M/M and a M/F pairing don't have to work with that kind of dynamic of masculine/feminine (or something related) either. You can have masculine/masculine or feminine/feminine. I could describe (roughly) how something like that could play out too, but this comment is already pretty long.
Still, I'll add that in a relationship, the characters in it should be equals - the Rarity and Twilight in here are - so what Sweetie and Scoots are doing is very wrong indeed, and I don't think the next few chapters are going to be all that pretty with the toxic direction of their relationship.
8546202
I don't think it's that Scootaloo expects all stallions to be hyper-dominant and macho. I think a part of her is uncomfortable with a relationship with another mare and wants Sweetie to help bridge the difference by performing these more masculine roles. She's never been comfortable with her own feminine side, so Sweetie's very expressed femininity unnerves her.
Her request isn't particularly thought out, but Sweetie interprets it in the most disastrous way possible thanks to a lack of any sort of male role models in her life and instead filters it through the lens of a BDSM relationship, which she knows a lot more about. Besides the fact that Sweetie really wants to be the marefriend she thinks Scootaloo deserves because she saved her life, it also gives Sweetie an outlet for her frustrations as she starts to feel like she's losing control of her personal life again. She also has some very sharp objections to feeling like she's being controlled thanks to the conga of psychic trauma inflicted by one Ms. Bright Lights.
Meanwhile, I think Scootaloo gets something positive out of the deal initially as it gives her some chance to surrender after feeling like she has to manage everything for a few years. She gets to explore a new side of herself, and when it's explored in moderation, it's great. When Sweetie starts trying to apply it to every part of their relationship, shit gets real bad.
At least, those are my quick notes on how I think their relationship dynamic works. While it's certainly informed to some degree by gender roles, I wouldn't say that's the driving factor, instead it's their own neuroses.
8551277
It's certainly seeming like a red flag for now, but I suppose I'll find out when I get around to the next chapter.
8724100
Maybe I'll come back to this another time.
I enjoyed most of this fic. The ending left me sad though. I know it’s just a Fanfic but I don’t feel that Sweetie and Scoots’ relationship is going to work out. It’s been shown so many times that Scoots is straight and going in to a relationship trying to change that just isn’t realistic or healthy.
I feel like Sweetie should find a couple of nice mares start a herd that all loves each other.
I did enjoy the fic! Thanks for it!
10553114
When I wrote it, I didnt see their relationship surviving more than a few years with the two of them staying good friends afterwards
10554529
Makes sense. Thanks for the insight!