When Sweetie Belle reached the end of the forest, she realised that she hadn’t taken on her disguise so that no creature would recognise her.
She was happy that she noticed it so soon, it could have otherwise gone badly.
Sweetie took on her disguise, concealing her figure and placed a beige fedora hat on her head and a pair of black sunglasses. While she would look suspicious, she had no intention of walking the main pathway. From her crusading days, she had learned of secret alleyways she could use to escape quickly if she ever needed to. Luckily, she remembered where they were located.
Looking around, she made sure that no creature saw her leave. But she had momentarily felt her ice run cold because she swore to Celestia she had seen a pair of eyes looking right at her from one of the trees, but when she had blinked, the creature and eyes were gone.
Rubbing it off as part of her young imagination, she looked towards Ponyville and felt weird. The town felt depressed. No, it did. Sweetie Belle had no idea why they felt so down, but she could care less.
Seeing that there was no creature walking her way or looking her way, she walked out from the bushes and immediately made a dash towards one of the bins and glanced out of it, her eyes being the only visible thing. It was too dark to see with the sunglasses in that position.
Sweetie Belle then jumped out of the bin and checked around the corner of the house to make sure no creature was there and made a dash towards the other house while still looking around.
She almost fainted when she saw a pony almost look her way. Luckily, she managed to get to the house. The pony looked to be a mare named Derpy who Sweetie Belle had liked until she posted about the eyes to the... she sunk her head in shame. Column.
If Sweetie would have gotten the chance to apologise, she would have, but the ponies here wanted nothing to do with her, so it was best to simply move on and never look back.
Making her way to another house, stealthily of course, she looked and to her surprise; saw a huge crowd of ponies gathering around a picture of...
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened at what she saw. There were pictures of her and her friends around a... memorial? She wasn’t sure what that was supposed to be, but it was there. She didn’t know how to respond to this.
She decided to stay and listen in. To her surprise, Twilight Sparkle stood at the top of a podium along with Mayor Mare who were conversing with one another as if to decide what to do or say. She didn’t have all day so they better hurry up.
Just when she was about to turn away, Twilight walked up to the stage and began speaking.
“Good afternoon every pony!”
There was a chorus of greetings at that while Sweetie Belle scoffed. The princess only addressed the ponies. Not any other creature. Sweetie was disgusted.
“We are gathered here today because we are soon reaching the first anniversary of the three fillies... we lost. For those of you new here and wonder what this is about; this is the story of Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. The Cutie Mark Crusaders of Ponyville.”
Some faces that Sweetie Belle didn’t recognise were among the crowds and asked a few former classmates of hers. Probably about who Sweetie and her friends were.
Sweetie Belle scoffed.
“The crusaders were three fillies that I mentioned that did everything to get their cutie marks, and I mean everything. There isn’t anything on a written list that they probably haven’t done. They did sports, teaching, learning, sewing, farming, you name it. They did everything. I couldn’t be more proud of their attempted accomplishments.”
A few ponies who Sweetie Belle recognised teared up as they remembered better times when the three fillies lived there. The filly scowled.
‘You're feeding them propaganda,’ She thought with venom.
She noticed, however, that the youngest princess of Equestria looked hesitant to continue. Twilight glanced at her friends who nodded with tears in their eyes, urging her to continue.
“When I say that they tried everything. I meant it. There was one such attempt to get their cutie marks, however, that caused us to... shun them. I’m not proud to say that I did it, I will never forgive myself for what I’ve said and done to them. They joined the school column and started spreading ponies' secrets and even lies. However, we adult mares and stallions shunned them. Some of you might think it was justified, but it wasn’t. They were just fillies trying to earn their cutie marks. It’s not the first time a pony has spread another pony’s secret. Journalists do it all the time, why should we be angry at three fillies for doing it? Especially, when we asked for more,””
Sweetie Belle was close to laughing at this pathetic excuse this princess had. Spreading propaganda to those who don’t know the story.
“However, we will never give up on finding them! They belong here, with us, in Ponyville. They deserve to be part of this fantastic place, they deserve the education they can get, and they deserve to earn their cutie marks! They deserve our attention!”
Sweetie Belle wanted to burst out laughing. How pathetic wasn’t this? Now when they realise that they shouldn’t have done what they did, they want them back so they can torture them again. Not going to happen.
Turning around, she left for the train station and didn’t bother with hiding because all of Ponyville was listening to that propaganda-filled alicorn.
Reaching the train station, she walked up to the small booth where an old stallion was sitting. Handing out the bits she asked for her ticket.
“I need a ticket to Manehattan,” She said, staring into the stallion's eyes who nodded and handed her ticket.
“The train will be here in fifteen minutes.” He explained.
She nodded and thanked him before she sat on one of the benches and got lost in her line of thinking.
‘It’s hilarious. After we disappear is the time when they realise that they shouldn’t have shunned us and treated us like we didn’t exist. I know it's all propaganda, but I must ask; what urged this on? Was it guilt that they were feeling or was it that there were a lot of questions being asked around?’ Sweetie Belle grumbled with her thoughts, trying to find the most likely scenario.
Around her, the train tracks were rusty, showing how long the train station had been there. The benches were relatively new, but not exactly old. The train that would be coming was the pride of Equestria. The train had been built in Ponyville by the Apple family. It was technically a family secret, but Applebloom had decided to tell her friends because she believed that she was disowned by the family.
‘I never thought that Twilight of all creatures would stoop so low. Spreading propaganda like that. What a tyrannical princess. I had hoped to avoid her at all costs when I got here. Sure, I may not have intended to talk to Zecora or even hide in her hut. It was a good thing I did,” Sweetie Belle muttered to herself. ‘Now I know what propaganda she has brainwashed the towns creatures with.’
The train let out a whistle when it stopped at the station and Sweetie Belle walked on, unaware that she was being followed by a creature. While also unaware of a pair of yellow eyes with red slits observing her with a mischievous look on its face.
The train whistled again and started moving towards the city where Sweetie Belle would be working for a few days or even weeks.
When she sat down by the window, she couldn’t help but feel as though she was being watched by some creature. Carefully, she glanced around and saw that there was another creature that was also disguising itself. She kept a close eye on the creature while glancing out the window.
Her paranoia was kicking in. She didn’t like this feeling of dread that was building up inside her stomach.
Sweetie Belle didn’t know why, but she had this feeling that something was going to go wrong but she didn’t know what.
After hours of travelling, they were starting to reach the city of Manehattan. Sweetie Belle smiled as she looked out the window and saw the big skyscrapers she had always wanted to see since she lived with her big sister. Rarity had told her how she would regularly fit clothing for mares and stallions who came from this city. It always made her feel excited.
It was rare for ponies to even go to Ponyville, that didn’t happen until Twilight moved to the town and was declared as the element of magic.
The very same mare that had brainwashed the town's creatures.
She would avenge them...
When the train stopped by the station, she felt her fear spike when she saw the royal guards standing right outside the train. Her eyes darted around, trying to find an escape route but she found none. Sweetie Belle sighed and prayed to Celestia that they wouldn’t ask her to take off her disguise.
However, her prayer would go unanswered. One of the guards nudged who looked to be their commander. He glanced at the filly who walked out of the train. He trotted up to her.
“Excuse me, ma’am but you cannot leave until you show us your face.” He explained, hardening his glare at Sweetie.
“Do I have to?” The unicorn filly asked, trying to sound brave.
Instead of answering, the commander used his magic to take off her glasses and beige fedora hat. The other guards looked at Sweetie Belle and one of them almost gasped in surprise.
“Commander, we need to bring her in, she looks very similar to that missing filly from Ponyville,” He explained looking at all of Sweetie Belle's features.
Sweetie Belle fired a magic spell at the commander who gave a surprised grunt as he flew into his fellow guards.
The young filly ran for it, disregarding her disguise as she ran to the streets of a city she had never been in and looked for the alleyways she knew could help her escape. She looked like a wild pony when her head darted all over the place, looking for the best escape route. The ponies walking by stopped to look at her.
Sweetie Belle shot forward when she heard hoof steps behind her. She needed to escape quickly! However, before she could move any further, she slipped on a banana peel and crashed into a pile of trashcans. The guards ran up to her and glared down at her while all the poor filly could do was stare at them with hate, something that made them shiver slightly but didn’t show it.
“You have a lot of explaining to do young filly,” The commander said, softening his glare slightly.
“I have nothing to say to you brainwashed fools,” Sweetie Belle spat at them causing them to recoil at her choice of language. “I refuse to come with you, I refuse to go back to Ponyville.”
“So you admit you are the missing filly?” One of the guards asked with a harsh tone.
“What else you, moron?” She asked with venom.
The commander encased her in magic and levitated her away. The ponies there were unaware of a pair of eyes that watched before disappearing. They also didn’t see a creature in a trenchcoat watching from afar.