"So you were among those who were pressured into giving up your cutie-mark," Faerie Tail was looking at Sugar Belle with careful scrutiny.
"Yes... I was adrift, looking for a place to call home after I'd completed the culinary art course in my hometown and wanted to somewhere to share my own baked goods," Sugar Belle was sitting in an armchair across the office from Faerie Tail, gazing out the window but not really looking outside.
"When I found Starlight's village, I thought it was rather drab and pale even though everypony walked around smiling. I thought I could... bring a little more color, more brightness, to them if I stayed and shared whatever tasty treats I could make."
"Until Starlight told you what staying meant..." Faerie Tail gathered.
"She... she said I could only fit in if I didn't have my cutie-mark to stand out," Sugar Belle remembered that unpleasant moment, "and the way she said it, it felt more like an order than a request, to give up my cutie-mark. But it was even worse when everypony in town was looking at me, waiting for me to listen to Starlight and... I gave in and Starlight removed my cutie-mark.
"But when she did, I-I just didn't feel like the baker I was without it! I couldn't say anything, though. I couldn't find the inspiration or... or the cheer or love I had for baking or making my treats, and- and when I forced myself to make something, I always wound up making those awful-tasting muffins. It made me miss my cutie-mark but I had to keep that to myself because I was afraid of every- No... of Starlight finding out! It was such a relief to know I wasn't alone with those kind of thoughts, when I found out Night Glider and Party Favor actually felt the same."
"Peer pressure can be a powerful tool for someone like Starlight Glimmer, Sugar Belle," Faerie Tail pointed out, "It might seem small and inconsequential in theory, but to actually experience the pressure on yourself coming from the expectations of all around you and the fear of letting them down in some way, it's actually very effective in brainwashing or converting someone into a cult. The member's individuality is rubbed out in order to make them feel as though the group matters more.
"But by holding onto the things you loved and missed about baking, which was tied to your cutie-mark, you retained your own individuality, even if only a little. It's holding onto and remembering that which is precious to us that can save us from ponies like Starlight trying to sway our hearts and minds and be shackled to a group driven by a misguided soul with a deluded and self-righteous view that refuses to compromise her perspective."
"...Then why do I still feel lost and confused?" Sugar Belle sighed woefully. "Starlight is gone, we're not being fooled by her anymore, but I-"
Groaning into her hooves, Sugar Belle felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked to see a soft motherly smile on Faerie Tail's face as the older unicorn mare leaned over and established a connection through physical contact.
"Because of what you experienced," Faerie Tail explained, "to have your home attacked, without warning, without provocation, and to have survived such a traumatic experience and seen friends and neighbors hurt or worse. Sugar Belle, you are now at a very familiar point in your life where you are uncertain of your future and your place in the world, not unlike how you were before you first arrived in Starlight's village.
"To be honest, I am walking a very similar path that your are on as well. I lost over ten years of my life, my husband, and missed out on so much of my sons' lives. I am here for you and your friends but I am also here for me. To say otherwise would be dishonest of me. I hope that by helping you and your friends I can find myself in this new time and world I've woken up to. But right now, as I said, you are practically in the same place you were before. What you're looking for now is a place to belong and find fulfillment, anything else you must discover for yourself."
Sugar Belle looked on at Faerie Tail as her own emotional fog of confusion began to clear and she couldn't help but give Faerie Tail a hug, which she was glad to return. Once they parted, Faerie Tail went on, "And you're not alone in this. You have your friends, old and new. All you have to do is come to them if you ever feel lost again, and they will help you to the best of their abilities. And so will I."
Sugar Belle felt the weight on her being lift, not all the way but now it was much easier. She stood up, smiling with deepest appreciation, "Thank you, Faerie Tail, I... I think I want to step out now."
"Very well, we'll end our session here," Faerie Tail set her notes and walked Sugar Belle out of her office, "Take your time in figuring out things to find the answers you're looking for, Sugar Belle, and always know you can trust your friends to help you find them."
"I will, thank you, Faerie Tail," Sugar Belle smiled sweetly as she stepepd out of Town Hall, saying, "I think I have a new idea for a sweet to make over at Bon Bon's candy store!"
"I can't wait to try it," Faerie Tail waved her off, smiling to see one of her patients leaving her office in high spirits.
The rest of the town was going nuts. The rushing around, gathering the essentials at the last minute, and needless to say the arrival of the bugbear coming in to wreak havoc could drive anyone insane on it's own. Combined altogether however was a guaranteed recipe for clinical insanity.
One such example was Dr. Whooves, Double Diamond and Party Favor hurrying around to find tuxedo suit fitters last minute and the three stallions looked more like mice in a maze looking for cheese than three grown stallions with jobs.
“How the hell does someone screw up the wedding dates?!” Dr. Whooves demanded in agitation.
“Don't ask us, we're not clocks!” Double Diamond retorted.
Party Favor wisely kept his mouth shut. He was having his own issues on top of that. The local party store had been lacking in appropriate wedding decorations for the ceremony and had to wait on a shipment from the Crystal Empire, but with the airships that made deliveries there and the railway out of action due to the wedding itself, it meant that all shipments were delayed.
Dr. Whooves had been in charge of organizing the town hall for the wedding and currently, Mayor Mare was holding some kind of meeting in there when he needed it and she would tell him that he could have it “in ten more minutes”, which meant he'd have it in a few hoursand not minutes.
Double Diamond who was in charge of the gifts and wedding decorations, was also sore as the shipment of supplies from Dodge City was held over due to delays with the warehouse staff catching every variety of flu and illness down there. He had to try and arrange with other towns and had no luck. The lack of any positive motion was starting to peeve him to no end whereas the perky attitudes of his volunteer helpers, Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon, was just rubbing him the wrong way.
“I hope the mares here are fairing better then we are,” Double Diamond grumped. “If not, I'll eat a cactus sandwich with ghost pepper sauce.”
“We'll pay for the water tanks to be shipped in,” Dr. Whooves said.
Had they overheard three mares, they would have found out that Roseluck, Sunshower, and Lily Valley were in the same boat as them. The three mares had been trying to get into Rarity's shop, but with her having to help with the Bugbear fiasco, the shop was closed and it left them in a right state.
“This is now getting out of control!” Lily Valley huffed indignantly. “We can't go one damned day with out something causing utter chaos!”
“It's life,” Roseluck snorted. “What more do you expect?!”
“At least peace and quiet!” Sunshower snarled. “Something to go simply right!”
The mares snarled and kept complaining as Night Glider took up the couch in Faerie Tale's Office.
“All this grumbling and tension in town lately?” Night Glider groaned as she laid back and gazed up at the ceiling. "Even flying doesn't make it feel better."
She had recently come from a row with Bon Bon and Ambrosia over whether or not the wedding would be put off until the bugbear was taken care of and everything had been sorted out. They were of the opinion that they would carry on with nothing to hold them back. She was of the opinion that the wedding would be held off.
“I know, but there's nothing we can do to sort this out right now,” Faerie Tale assuaged. “Only time itself can sort this out.”
“Great! More whining, snapping and tantrum throwing,” Night Glider moaned into her hooves with a deep sigh before letting her hooves drape over the sides of the couch.
“I've had enough of that already! Not to mention Starlight's little tantrum when she was rumbled!”
“Rumbled?” Faerie Tale was unfamiliar with the use of that word.
“Found out,” Night Glider explained, “when someone is found out after their lie has been exposed.”
“Oh I see. Well, it seems you're one for not taking too lightly to anyone throwing a tantrum when they no longer get their way,” she told the pegasus.
“I am. It started when I was younger and had to put up with my older sister, Fleetfoot, doing that all the time. It got worse after she was accepted into the Wonderbolts Academy, she couldn't help but rub it in my face that she was going to train to become a Wonderbolt and wouldn't shut up about her new friend Spitfire. I had met her once, but we never got along. I liked to take it slow and do things as they came up and Spitfire was always diving headlong into anything. She had a tendency to complain or make such a fuss over things not going her way, it was no wonder she and Fleetfoot got along so well!” Night Glider continued with a soft bitterness in her eyes.
“That can get old,” Faerie Tale nodded sympathetically as she remembered, “My brother, Joe, he used to make such a fuss whenever he was upset or things didn't go his way when he was a colt."
Night Glider sighed, turning her head to look out the window and was about to continue when she saw something headed straight towards them at a decidedly unsafe velocity. Night Glider wasted no time in grabbing Faerie Tale and hurrying towards the door, shouting to anyone in the vicinity to get out as fast as they can.
“The Bugbear's about to hit!” she shouted to a couple passing mayoral staff.
They wasted no time in getting out just as the massive creature slammed into Town Hall and tore down a good chunk of the building. Luckily, there weren't any injuries as Night Glider's warning had spurred the staff to evacuate in the nick of time. The Council of Friendship (minus Midnight, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Blueblood, and Pinkie) quickly arrived and fought the beast away, allowing the bystanders to look upon the damage to Town Hall with a mixture of disappointment, irritation, and a little shock and awe.
“Looks like the wedding's off,” Night Glider said, feeling defeated.
What they didn't know was that, watching from the shadows was someone who had been invited down to help with the preparations.
“This is a sad state of affairs,” Kevin thought as the changeling buzzed back to his planning office. “If there was some way to sort this mess out. If only....Yes! That's it! I'll write to him at once!”