Sweetie Belle was in her room packing her bags, preparing for her departure from Kludgetown. She was a little sad that she would be leaving the place she could now call home and would be lying if she said she didn’t feel nervous.
However, this was a one-time opportunity. As Scootaloo said; “You don’t know when you will get another chance like this,” She realised that it would be better if she just took the opportunity and visited her old kingdom.
She stopped packing and looked at the dresses she had placed on the bed she would wear for the shoot. Everything wasn’t there, but the photographer had sent a few dresses and allowed her to pick a few of her own to wear if she wanted to.
At first, she had been unsure of what to pick. Due to the fact, she ran away almost a year ago, she couldn’t help but think about her family and former friends besides the ones she lived with.
Sweetie Belle may even at one point have hated Ponyville for what they did, but she understood what happened and decided to be mature and move on. What was the point of containing all that hatred and anger when it gave her nothing in return?
Slowly, letting go of the negative emotions she felt, and embracing the new kingdom, town, and profession, she learned how to be happy while away from home. That is until Badlands became her true home, it was like a piece of her that had been missing but was finally back in place.
Packing the last few dresses, she couldn’t help but smile at the last thought. Despite the hiccups along the way, she was finally feeling the genuine happiness she once had.
She looked around the room and spotted the full-body mirror that she had set up to work on her profession. Today she was wearing a scarlet-red dress with black shoes that made powerful sounds when walking on stone.
With no impulse, her body seemed to have a mind of its own as she struck a few poses that were her typical go-to for when she was working. This time, however, it was far more relaxed than when she usually does it. Nonetheless, she looked stunning in her clothes, and she knew it.
Giggling, Sweetie Belle turned away from the mirror and double-checked her belongings so she didn’t forget anything. She had another dress laid out for her, though, the term “dress” was perhaps not a fitting word. It was more like a trenchcoat that would conceal her entire body but she would still be able to see and do things in it.
It was a simple precaution if the royal guards were looking for her.
Not that she believed they were anyways...
Just when she was about to change her dress, she heard a knock on the door.
“Come in!” Sweetie Belle called out.
Scootaloo and Applebloom walked inside the room with proud smiles on their faces. Both of them couldn’t be happier for their unicorn friend. Out of the three of them, they had always suspected, as did Sweetie Belle herself, that the unicorn in a situation like theirs would devastate her. And it did. But, it wasn’t to the extent they had initially suspected. They believed that she wouldn’t be able to move on at all, but she proved them wrong by working and getting an amazing income. She was sprouting positivity all around her again, but she had matured because of the kingdom they were the citizens of. She had become more refined and calm compared to her old self that would proclaim now and again.
“Sweetie Belle, I don’ know wha’ tha’ say, you done me proud!” The youngest apple admitted with a soft smile.
“Yeah, I’m with Applebloom on this, you proved us all wrong by finding work that led to an income. Instead of crying about how everything was against you, you found work. Even if you did complain, it was for the right reason. Yet, you refused to give up, and for that, I will always admire you,”
Sweetie Belle was stunned. Out of everything she thought she would hear from Scootaloo, this was certainly not it. Yes, she knew Scoots would be proud of her, but from the years that she had known her, she thought the orange-coated filly would say something...
She stopped in thought. What did she expect Scootaloo to say? Had the banishment changed them so much that she had even lost the idea of what her sporty friend would say?
She gave a watery smile to her friends and hugged them dearly. Bringing the other two fillies close made her feel safe and secure the danger of this embrace though, did so that she didn’t want to let go.
Letting go, she smiled at them and thanked them.
“Thank you, guys. I will get to Manehattan and I will make those photoshoots. I will come back better than before!” She yelled in triumph. “By the way, do you guys want me to buy anything while I’m there? Any sweets, clothes, food or drinks?”
Scootaloo shook her head negative. What the orange-coated filly didn’t say was that she wouldn’t need to buy them anything because the invasion was soon to take place.
“Well, ah doubt ya will fin’ Apple family orchard in Manehattan despite that I have a branch of mah’ family there. But, I’m willing to have any kind of apple.” Applebloom said with a small blush on her face.
Kludgetown and Badlands did grow their own food but the problem was that there were no apples. Apple trees aren’t that strong to withstand the unforgiving heat of the Badlands.
Sweetie belle giggled. “It’s no problem, Bloom, I’ll find a food market or something.”
The unicorn filly glanced at the clock and saw that it was time for her to travel to Manehattan. She grabbed her bags and gave her friends one last hug each and left the house.
While walking down the streets of Kludgetown, she saw the stares of every creature there. Grinning to herself, she made sure that she looked her best in the costume she wore. The reason they were glancing her way was that she looked to be mysterious and ominous. Now, that wasn’t unusual considering where they lived, but this creature... to them it was a creature they didn’t want to upset or anger. So they made sure the creature didn’t feel troubled.
Sweetie Belle had considered having security guards but had shot that notion down quickly because she wanted some freedom for herself. Scootaloo had suggested that she maybe should have some creature, but she had politely declined.
It wasn’t that she was ungrateful for what Scootaloo had suggested, it was just... ever since she gained popularity in the modelling industry, she had noticed that certain fans wanted to be more than fans, they wanted to have something with her, but she was too young!
Shaking her head at the thought, she continued down the street until she reached the outskirts of the town. It was unusual that she found herself out there. She seldom went there unless it was for the other nearby towns but even then, it was unusual.
‘I’m going back to Equestria, huh?’ She thought to herself. Not once had she believed she would return. Sure, she had thought about it. Sweetie wasn’t going to lie about that, she certainly dreamed about going back, but she never voiced this with the others because she was uncertain where they stood in that regard. Would they side with her? Would they shun her and kick her out? Because of these fears, and doubts, she never told them and found them to be a secret she would keep for herself.
Walking through the desert, Sweetie Belle remembered to pack a bottle of water in her bag and kept taking small sips now and again until she managed to reach the forest.
While on her way there, she kept looking over her shoulder. She couldn’t help it, she felt like some creature was watching her. It was getting on her nerves and at one point, she swore she had seen some creature on the clouds...
Maybe the heat from the sun was making her hallucinate? Even if she drank water regularly, it didn’t mean she was safe from hallucinations.
When Sweetie Belle reached the Everfree forest, she had to admit, it felt nice. The grass that graced her hooves was wonderful. She had gotten used to touching sand and stone, but she hadn’t felt the grass in a very long time, so it was a nice change of pace. In a very good way.
However, she felt her facial features harden. She was now back in Equestria. Specifically the Everfree forest. The most dangerous forest in all of Equestria. So dangerous, not even the royal guards dare go there unless they get a direct order from the princesses themselves. Even then, they are too paranoid to even do their jobs properly.
Sweetie Belle was certainly afraid, but over the year she had been away, she had learned a spell or two that could help her defend herself. They weren’t lethal, but they could be quite dangerous depending on how angry she got. She did have to practice a couple of times on a few rivals that were unhappy with how she had stolen some creature's spotlight. Because of this, she had learned the spells so she could defend herself if possible. Luckily that time, the situation didn’t escalate. They were simply fans who wanted to see their role models, and celebrities get the spotlight for once.
However, that wasn’t the only time she had been in immediate danger. There had been a few creatures that had wanted to beat her up because of the fact Sweetie Belle was now the number one attraction, meaning any criminals who earned good money in modelling with their mares, were now losing great sums of bits. This didn’t sit well with most of them, so one time they tried to attack Sweetie Belle while she had been out shopping, luckily for her, Capper had been nearby and managed to protect her from the angry fans. But after that day, she made sure that she knew her defensive spells as well as offensive spells.
So the next attempt from rivals didn’t go as they had expected. They had believed she would be defended by a big muscular creature, imagine their surprise when they see that she was all alone and didn’t seem phased when they had threatened her. All she had done was flick with her horn. She used a spell that time that would encase a creature in water which she held for a solid twenty-five seconds which was impressive for her age.
Needless to say, no creature wanted to mess with her again.
As Sweetie Belle walked further into the forest, she couldn’t help but look around to make sure that there were no predators around. She may know dangerous spells, but that didn’t mean she could beat a timberwolf without problems. In that regard, she would have to rely on her speed. But strangely enough, she felt relatively safe inside the dangerous forest.
It wasn’t as if she would trust the forest more than she did her friends, but if she had to pick between Ponyville and Everfree forest, the forest would win every time, it wouldn’t even be a discussion.
Just when she was about to continue to walk, she heard a scream in the distance.
Quickly turning her head towards the sound, she immediately ran towards the sound and came across a horrific sight. There was one of her... former friends, Zecora that looked to be injured as she carefully watched the timberwolf that silently and agonisingly made its way towards the mare zebra who could do nothing but say prayers and pray that whatever deity was listening to her, listened.
Sweetie Belle didn’t know what to do, there was a zebra mare-
‘Huh!? Zecora!?’ Sweetie Belle panicked and rushed forward.
The white and black striped mare had closed her eyes and prayed that she would have a quick sleep than feel the unbearable pain she was certain she would feel.
Sweetie Belle landed between Zecora and the timberwolf as if to shield the older mare and lit her horn and thought of the first offensive spell that came to her mind. She fired a beam which the wolf barely avoided. It glared at the young filly and licked its lips as if it could taste her. “I won’t let you eat her, wolf,” the filly spoke with no fear in her voice. The wolf looked unfazed but the zebra quickly opened her eyes and saw a filly in front of her that was clad to cover her entire body and a hat on her head with a hole so the filly could use magic. What stood out to her though, was the fact the voice of the filly sounded so similar to a long lost friend of hers...
The wolf attacked with its teeth ready to gnaw at her, but Sweetie Belle fired off another beam that hit the wolf on the throat causing it to screech to a halt and tried to breathe which seemed to be difficult for it. The filly fired another spell, this time, with fire to set the wolf ablaze but it didn’t run away from the spell, too focused on trying to get air to its ‘lungs’.
The fire spell hit the timberwolf but it didn’t howl in pain like Sweetie Belle thought it would which started to make her panic but she didn’t allow it to show. She would defeat the wolf somehow.
When the wolf had caught its breath, it turned its attention to the unicorn filly but decided that it wasn’t worth fighting her, instead choosing to turn around and run away from the area.
With a raised brow, Sweetie Belle turned around and saw her old friend look at her in shock.
“I expected the timberwolf to put up more of a fight, but I suspect that it grew afraid when it couldn’t breathe. I took its breath away,” She joked with a small grin on her face.
Zecora got on her hooves, her eyes never leaving the filly. To see a filly so young defeat a fully grown timberwolf... was shocking, to say the least.
“I see you defeated your foe,” Zecora still hadn’t taken her eyes off the young filly who didn’t feel the slightest bit uncomfortable with the staring.
“Yes, I did, I thought it would put up more of a fight but it turned tail and booked it.” Sweetie Belle replied.
“A filly who wields such powerful spell shall be careful not to be heard,” Zecora explained finally taking her eyes off the young unicorn who now looked at her with confusion on her face.
“What do ya mean by that?” Sweetie Belle asked. She decided to change her dialect slightly so the mare wouldn’t be suspicious of who she was.
Zecora didn’t answer, instead, she picked up a flower and planted it in a basket that Sweetie hadn’t seen and grabbed it with her teeth and walked away from the filly.
“You ran away from your troubles, but you’ve come back for trouble,” Zecora answered while walking away, leaving Sweetie Belle to gawk at her.
Ho... how did she know?!
Without thinking, she trotted beside the zebra but didn’t say anything. They walked in silence to Zecora’s hut and still not saying anything she opened the door and allowed the young filly inside. She placed the basket by a table and started to brew some tea and placed some on a plate and some cookies. When the tea had finished brewing, Zecora poured herself and Sweetie Belle cups of tea.
“How did you recognise me?” Sweetie Belle asked, not knowing what to say other than what came to her mind.
Zecora smiled sadly at her. “I recognised your voice,” she replied, dropping her rhyming for the serious topic they would soon discuss.
“Heh, I suppose it's difficult to change one’s voice.” She filly admitted in defeat.
There was a comfortable silence between the two and neither wanted to break it as they took sips of their tea. Sweetie Belle knew that she would be getting questions, but she didn’t want to answer them, she wanted to hold them off for as long as possible. Zecora on the other hoof didn’t know what to ask her. She had been informed that the three fillies had gone into self-banishment and had ended up somewhere in the Badlands. She prayed for their safety every night and it seems like they answered her call. At least for one of them, but she would take what she could get.
“I heard you were inside Badlands,” Zecora said, hiding the fear in her voice. When she travelled to Equestria, she had to walk through Badlands which was far worse than her homeland ever was. Badlands made her homeland look like just a small troubled kingdom. Luckily, she managed to get out of there unscathed, but the same could not be said for the other creatures she had heard about that tried to get to Equestria...
Sweetie Belle didn’t know how to respond. On one hand, she couldn’t deny the truth but on the other hand, she didn’t want to admit it either. Nonetheless, she decided to go with the truth. Taking her outfit off along with the hat, she stared into Zecora’s eyes with intensity.
“Yes, I was in the Badlands with my friends.” Sweetie Belle admitted, taking another sip of her tea. “How much do you know?”
Zecora sighed. “Not a whole lot. Just that you were in the Badlands and that was it... along with the reason that you went into self-exile.”
Sweetie Belle sighed. She and her friends would never live that down, would they? They would forever be known as Gabby Gums and nothing else.
The zebra noticed this and felt dumb for having brought it up, but at the same time, it needed to be said. Nonetheless, the look on the filly’s face said it all, it showed Zecora that the unicorn wasn’t the same pony she had known a year ago. This was a changed filly.
“I apologise for bringing it up,” She decided when she took a sip of her tea. But Sweetie Belle shook her head.
“It’s... it's not okay, but I understand. What my friends and I did... we will never be forgiven,” Was the sombre response. The filly looked close to tears but she refused to let them fall.
Zecora was about to respond when there was a knock on the door...