Spectrum laid on the sofa, his head in Sunrise’s lap as she gently stroked his hair. He sighed happily as he leaned into her hand, so comfortable he was in danger of falling asleep.

“Penny for your thoughts, Chief?” Sunrise chuckled, “Not that you being quiet isn’t normal and all.”

“Nuthin’,’ Spectrum said softly, turning his head over and looking up at her, “I’m just comfy.”

“Okay then,” Sunrise kissed his forehead, still stroking his hair, “Heh… one of my girl friends at school was asking me when we were just going to bite the bullet and tie the knot.”

Spectrum laughed, curling his legs up to his chest and kissed her midriff, “When you finally drop some money on that damn rock, obviously,” he chuckled.

“Oh, you!” Sunrise laughed, “And you know what else she said? She’s convinced I’m the one who’s going to propose! Considering I asked you to prom and all.”

“That makes sense. Auntie Twilight was the one who proposed to Aunt Asy,” Spectrum giggled, nuzzling her stomach.

“Yep, so I figure, hey! I’ll just follow in Mom’s footsteps for that,” Sunrise pet his hair, “It’s settled! Speccy, marry me. Like, now.”

“Alright, Spectrum Sparkle it is,” Spectrum giggled, sitting up and kissing her cheek.

“Terrific!” Sunrise kissed his cheek back, “Has a nice ring to it, actually. I do like Dash, it’d be an awesome last name, but boy it doesn’t go with mine. Sunny Dash, maybe, but that’s stretching. I like Speccy Sparkle, it works!”

Spectrum sat up and straddled Sunrise’s lap, kissing her cheek, “Alright, it’s settled. We’re engaged,” he giggled, squeezing tightly to her shoulders.

“Yaaaaaay!” Sunrise laughed, bringing her arms around him and nuzzling his hair, “I’ll go to school on Monday all like, ‘Hey girls, guess what? I’m engaged!’!”

Spectrum laughed and squeezed tighter, snuggling into Sunrise’s neck, “We’re taking High School Sweethearts to a whole different level.”

“And how!” Sunrise agreed, petting his hair, “We rule the school!”

“Correction, you rule the school. Everyone loves you,” Spectrum booped her nose.

Giggling, Sunrise booped her nose back, “Maybe, but they love you, too!”

“Yeah, they love kicking me in the stomach,” Spectrum huffed as he nuzzled her cheek.

“That’s just the assholes, and no way am I letting them get away with that anymore,” Sunrise shook her head.

Spectrum smiled and kissed her cheek, “Thanks… so… what about our wedding night?”

“What about it?” Sunrise smirked, “Got something in mind?”

“That’s what I was asking you,” Spectrum giggled, nuzzling into her neck.

Grinning, Sunrise kissed his head, “And I’m asking you!”

“Well, you haven’t pegged me since that one time at the castle,” Spectrum giggled, pulling back and kissing her nose.

“Pegged?” Sunrise repeated, snickering, “Aw, you’re cute. Well, obviously we can still make it special, right? Both our parents were sleeping together before getting married, anyway.”

Spectrum pouted in a very Fluttershy-esque manner, “How is that cute?”

“You say pegged, and now you’re all pouty, which is super cute,” Sunrise kissed his nose, “Almost no one says pegged anymore.”

Spectrum looked confused, “...What do they say?”

“Lots of crude and vulgar terms,” Sunrise made a face, “Which would be super cute if it came out of your mouth! But you can say pegged, it’s fun.”

Spectrum’s pout shifted slightly, “What would sound super cute if it came out of my mouth?” he asked curiously.

“Dirty talk,” Sunrise snickered, “Like the kind we hear when our parents are having sex.”

“Oh, like when you tried getting away with the phrase ‘rubbin’ vajs’?” Spectrum asked with a smirk.

Sunrise’s pupils shrank down to pinpricks as she processed what Spectrum was insinuating, “...Oh my god, you knew?”

“I was in the other room, Sunny,” Spectrum laughed, kissing her forehead.

“Right…” Sunrise pouted and blushed heavily, “Okay, yeah, I’m not proud of that phrase. But it works.”

Spectrum laid a head against her shoulder, “I’ve used cheesier.”

“You’re so adorable,” Sunrise giggled, holding him closer, “I use dirty words and you show up all ‘Golly gosh’.”

“What can I say? I take after my mother,” Spectrum pouted.

“And I love that about you,” Sunrise kissed his cheek, “Sooo… you hungry? I’m pretty famished.”

“What did you have in mind?” Spectrum asked, nuzzling her nose.

“You know what I’m craving? Tacos,” Sunrise giggled, “I really don’t know why.”

“Probably all that time you’ve been spending with Auntie Sona and Cousin Dagi,” Spectrum giggled, getting off of her lap, “Alright, let’s go find a place that’s open.”

“Hey Scoots?” Spectrum pushed open Scootaloo’s bedroom door and peered inside. Unlike the rest of the family, Spectrum was always welcome in Scootaloo’s bedroom. There had even been times when he was going through puberty and came in here to sleep, as sharing a bedroom with Sunrise hadn’t helped that rough time very much, “You in here?”

“Yep, I’m here!” Scootaloo spoke up from her reading chair. She looked up from the comic she was reading and grinned, “Hey there, bro. What’s up?”

“Nothing, I just…” Spectrum trailed off as he glanced around Scootaloo’s room before sitting down in the chair next to her, “Just wanted to see you…”

“Aww,” Scootaloo grinned, bringing an arm around him, “Well you know I’ve always got time for my little brother! What do you want to do? Hang around and talk, go someplace?”

Spectrum hugged against her and smiled, “Here’s fine… maybe we can talk…”

Nodding, Scootaloo set her comic aside and faced him completely, “Sure thing! What’s on your mind?”

“Well…” Spectrum wrung his hands a little, “I uh… this is kinda hard to talk about, that’s why I came to you…”

Scootaloo looked at him curiously and with mild concern, “Okay, what is it?”

Spectrum shifted in his seat, and for the first time in a while he was remarkably aware of the satin panties he was wearing. The set that Scootaloo had given him (discreetly) for his birthday. He looked back up and mulled over what he was trying to say. Scootaloo was always the one person, besides Sunrise, that never made fun of him for his femininity. Even his mothers, as accommodating as they were, still took jabs at him that could hurt from time to time. But Scootaloo was different. She taught him how to shave properly, and how to wax. Helped him with picking up a lot of the things he needed to express himself, and was probably the best role model in his life. If he couldn’t talk to her, he couldn’t talk to anybody.

He took a deep breath and looked down at his lap, “Iwantobeagirl,” he said very quickly, his words blending together.

Scootaloo looked at him with bafflement, “I have no idea what you just said. Something-something earl?”

Spectrum took another breath and spoke more slowly, “...I want to be a girl.”

This made Scootaloo’s eyes go wide for a few moments. She then whistled, but smiled as she pet his back, “So you do, huh? Guess I should’ve figured, but even I wasn’t sure you’d want to go that far.”

Spectrum nodded as he leaned against her side, “Yeah…”

“Well hey, that’s great you got it more figured out now,” Scootaloo ruffled his hair, “Didn’t think I’d end up with two sisters! But if that’s what you want, buddy, that’s great. You know I’ll support you all the way!”

“Thanks… it feels good to tell someone about this…” Spectrum breathed a sigh of relief as he wrapped his arms around Scootaloo’s shoulders and hugged her tightly.

“No probs!” Scootaloo hugged him back, “I’m sure Sunny’s gonna be okay with that. I mean, you’re still the same ol’ kid she remembers, after all.”

Spectrum grew very quiet for a moment, “Yeah, but… what about us… you know… being together? Sunny’s straight. I know we’re always gonna be inseparable but… if I went ahead and, you know, changed… would she still want me?”

“I can’t really answer that for her,” Scootaloo admitted, “But I get the feeling she might. You just gotta talk to her about it and see what she says.”

“I guess… what about Mom? She always likes making jokes about me being so girly,” Spectrum sighed, “I know she doesn’t mean anything by it but… it still kinda hurts. What do you think she’s gonna do when she hears this?”

“That’s Mom for you sometimes,” Scootaloo said with a playful roll of her eyes, but then grew serious, “But hey, she loves you, and she’ll accept you. We all just gotta keep her in line with the joke cracking, and we will.”

“Thanks…” Spectrum hugged tighter, “I guess I just gotta find a good time to slide this news in…”

Scootaloo whistled a bit, but nodded, “That’s gonna be tough. But I guess you’ll know. I’d say call a family meeting, but that’d probably just make you too nervous.”

“Meep!” Spectrum squeaked as he buried his face into Scootaloo’s neck and shook his head, “No family meetings…”

“Exactly,” Scootaloo chuckled, nuzzling his hair, “Don’t worry, you’ll tell ‘em when you’re ready. Even if you gotta do it one at a time.”

Spectrum nodded, kissing Scootaloo’s cheek, “Thanks Scoots… Now I just need a new name…”

“You want to change it, huh? All righty…” Scootaloo rubbed her chin thoughtfully, “Think it’ll be easy to keep the rainbow motif?”

“Maybe… but Prissy already took Prism,” Spectrum chuckled a little as he pulled back from her.

“Yeah, true,” Scootaloo pouted, “Spectrumina? Nah, that’s stretching and sounds kinda silly. Spectral?”

“Spectral?” Spectrum considered it for a moment, “Seems a little more supernatural than rainbow…”

There were a few footsteps outside and a knock on the door, “Scootaloo, have you seen Speccy?”

“I’m in here, Sunny,” Spectrum called back, watching as Sunrise opened the door and peeked in.

“Not up to anything lewd, are you?” she smirked.

“Not with Scootaloo!” Spectrum blushed and looked away, disgruntled.

“Just come in,” Scootaloo rolled her eyes slightly.

Sunrise giggled and stepped inside, strolling over to Spectrum and kissing his head, “What’cha talkin’ about?”

“Uh… Scootaloo is… writing a book,” Spectrum said nervously.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Just a little anthology of short stories,” Scootaloo said with a shrug, pointing toward her laptop.

“Oh cool!” Sunrise grinned, “Anything I can help with?”

Spectrum thought for a minute, “Actually yeah… if you gender-swapped me, what would you say is a good name for the result?”

“Oh, that’s easy! It’d be Spectra,” Sunrise grinned, “Sounds kind a like what your name would be if you were a girl. I think your Moms even said one time they’d have called you that if you did turn out to be a girl.”

“Okay… thanks, that really helps,” Spectrum smiled and kissed her cheek.

Sunrise looked at him with mild confusion, but otherwise smiled and kissed his cheek back, “Hey, happy to help!”

“I like that, Spectra works,” Scootaloo remarked, giving Spectrum a discreet wink.

Spectrum smiled warmly. It felt right that Sunrise was the one picking out his new name, even if she didn’t know she was doing it… yet. Next Chapter: End Up Chopping It Off Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 2 Minutes