September 20th
or
The Newest Citizen
Dear Diary,
I think that it's about time that I should tell you about Merriweather. Sound familiar? Actually, nope; she doesn't sound familiar. She moved in last night while I was sleeping at Mitta's. She had to wake me up because all of the citizens in Sunny Town must gather in the town square to welcome new citizens.
"Ruby," she spoke, "it's time to wake up!"
I sleepily woke up. "W-why? Is s-someon-"
"I heard from the grapevine that somepony just moved into Sunny Town! Vera Seedy wants all of us to gather in town square to welcome them!"
I grew really excited. "Hooray!"
We both galloped out of Mitta's house and tried to race each other to town square.
"Hey! No fair!"
I beat Mitta in the race because I'm smaller and faster than her. She panted as she tried to catch up to me.
"Looks like we're here," she spoke.
As Mitta and I tried to find a place to stand in the town square, Vera Seedy sauntered in front of the crowd of us Sunny Town citizens. Her neatly-combed seaweed-green mane bobbed as she tried to find the perfect place to stand in front of us. After she stopped, she called out to Merriweather, the new citizen, to come and introduce herself.
"Come on now! Don't be silly!"
"A-a-alright..." a little voice peeped.
We all intently waited for Merriweather to introduce herself. Five long minutes later, she finally walked around the corner of a house and stood next to Vera Seedy.
"Citizens of Sunny Town," began a proud Vera Seedy, "let me introduce to you: Merriweather, our newest citizen!"
We all applauded to be honest to Merriweather and Vera Seedy.
"Now Merriweather, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself?"
Merriweather shyly ambled forward a couple of hoofsteps ahead of Vera Seedy. She did not speak for a very long time.
"Mitta, is she gonna speak or what?" I impatiently asked Mitta.
"I'm not sure," replied Mitta. "She's shy. Give her some time."
After what seemed like an hour of waiting (but was actually in fact four minutes), Merriweather finally spoke to us Sunny Town citizens.
"H-hello, everypony. My name is Merriweather, but you can call me Merri. I really love nature and flowers. I have a puppy named Cumulus."
Promptly, Cumulus ran seemingly out of nowhere and stood next to Merriweather (or Merri. I will call her that from now on, diary.)
"Cumulus is a good little puppy. He loves to play and do tricks. He's very obedient of my commands. I plan to move into a small cottage here in Sunny Town. I hope that this is where I'll live for the rest of my life. I'm really glad that I've found Sunny Town in the first place; Manehattan was terrible."
As everypony else applauded, I thought of something that came to mind when Merri spoke of...
Manehattan.
Don't think about that, Ruby. You have a new citizen to write about in here! So anyways, after Merri finished introducing herself, Vera Seedy again took center stage.
"Thanks, Merri! We are glad to have somepony else join us in this quaint little town! You will be moving in next to Mitta."
Merri looked confused. "Who's Mitta?"
"She's the white pony with a scarlet mane in the crowd."
"I love how her emerald eyes sparkle in the moonlight, Mayor."
I can imagine that Mitta took that compliment to heart.
"C'mon, Merri!" spoke a proud Vera. "Follow me to your new house!"
Her seaweed-green mane flew in the wind as Merri followed her. I noticed how tidy Merri's light blue and periwinkle mane was; Vera Seedy's mane was starting to become unkempt.
Anyways, that's all I have to write about yesterday night. Now I must write about how today went.
Okay. I'm writing about how today went now. It all started this morning when Mitta woke me up again. Don't ask me how that went.
"Ruby! Merri's coming to visit us!" she told me.
"Cool!" I replied. "I hope that she's a great neighbor!"
"I'm sure she is, Ruby."
Immediately after Mitta spoke, I heard a knock at the door. It must be Merri! I opened the door to see a very elegant Merri at the door, holding a small straw basket of roses in her mouth. She had on one of the most elegant of dresses! The baby blue and white matched as if it were sewn on a spring day! Best of all, it smelled like daisies!
"Good morning! As you've both heard yesterday, I'm Merriweather! But please call me Merri. I like it better that way because it is a shorter name. Now you must be Mitta."
Merri gently set down the basket of roses and fixed her eyes upon Mitta.
"Yes, Merri. I'm Mitta, and this young filly here is Ruby!"
"Hi Merri!" I spoke. "I hope you like it here in Sunny Town!"
"Thanks for the appreciation, Ruby."
Merri then walked towards Mitta. "Is she your daughter?"
"No," replied Mitta. "I'm her guardian. Ruby's parents..."
Mitta didn't speak for a while. She closed her eyes in sadness. When I looked more closely at her, I saw a small tear rolling down her right cheek.
"Is something wrong?" asked a concerned Merri. "Was it something I said?"
Mitta tried again to tell Merri what she was originally going to tell her. "Ruby's p-parents..."
"...died."
Merri gasped in surprise as Mitta started to weep again.
"Ruby! Mitta! I'm so sorry!"
"I-It's not your f-fault, Merri," Mitta spoke in-between her sobs.
Merri looked at the ground both in guilt and in shame.
"The same thing again and again and again..."
What Mitta had just wept peaked Merri's curiosity. She rose her head up from looking at the ground and looked at Mitta.
"What? What's wrong? Did someone in your family die too?"
Mitta turned towards Merri and began to speak. "Ponies that felt like my family died here. It's all the mayor's fault..."
Merri gasped again. "That mayor wouldn't hurt a fly!"
"Vera Seedy would hurt a fly! Perhaps even fleas! EVEN BACTERIA!"
Merri began to walk towards the door. "S-should I leave now? Did I come here at a bad time? Should I visit here another time?"
I galloped towards her. "No, Merri. Mitta and I have something to tell you about Sunny Town."
"What's that, Ruby?"
"NO! DON'T TELL HER!" a now nervous Mitta loudly wept. "IT'S FOR HER OWN SAFETY OF HER SANITY!"
"No," I refused for the first time against Mitta. "It's for her own safety that we do tell her the secret of our town."
Mitta finally calmed down and retreated. "Fine Ruby. I'll tell her more about this town, but we'll do it together. Okay?"
"Okay."
Both Mitta and I walked towards Merri, who looked like she was about to leave the house.
"Does that mean I'm staying?"
"Yes Merri," replied Mitta. "Please follow us upstairs into my room's closet."
"Why?"
"You'll see why later."
I followed Mitta upstairs to the entrance of her room in her house. Merri began to follow us by sauntering up the stairs. Once she was upstairs, we all went inside Mitta's room and into her closet.
"Are all of the windows shut?" Mitta asked me.
"Yes Mitta."
"Merri, are you ready to hear the secret of our town?"
"Yes, Mitta. I'm willing to take any risks right now."
It took a long time for Mitta to begin the revelation. "Sunny Town is not always sunny. Everypony here follows a strict set of beliefs."
"And those beliefs are...?" asked Merri.
"Anypony that moves into Sunny Town cannot be a unicorn or a pegasus." I added. "Also, everypony here is strictly a blank flank. We can never have a cutie mark."
Merri's aqua blue eyes widened. "Why is that? Isn't that wrong?"
"Mitta and I feel that it is wrong. However, everypony here believes that unicorns, pegasi, and cutie marks are a curse."
A few minutes passed by before Merri broke the silence. "H-how? Why?"
"Exactly," replied Mitta. "Anypony who is a unicorn, pegasus, and either does or doesn't have a cutie mark is immediately set to be executed in public."
"That is terrible, you two! What happened to Ruby's parents?"
"My parents were killed here in Sunny Town after they returned from a visit to Manehattan. They were earth ponies like me, but they earned their cutie marks during their time in Manehattan. They tried to hide them from Vera Seedy, but to no avail, they were killed. Just like that."
Merri began to shiver in fear, her light cornflower blue coat almost blending in with the subtle dimness of the closet. "The mayor really is a monster. I should move out of Sunny Town."
"Don't leave!" spoke a surprised Mitta. "The others won't like it."
"Why would you leave?!" I added in surprise. "You seem so nice! You even said that you like Sunny Town! There's no point in leaving somewhere if you already like it!"
Merri turned towards us. "Don't you see? I'm already guilty."
Mitta and I were confused. Puzzled. What was Merri guilty for? She seemed nice and-
"Wait a second! You're hiding something!"
After I spoke, Merri turned towards me. "N-no! It's not what you think!"
"It's okay," Mitta added. "Whatever secret you hold is safe with us."
"Fine," Merri replied. "I'll show you my secret."
Show us a secret? Not tell us?
Merri took off her dress in front of us. "I'm not trying to be impolite or not modest, but..."
My eyes widened. Were those wings that she was stretching? A cutie mark of a white daisy? Now I finally see why she was so skittish before.
"I'm a pegasus and I have a cutie mark. I'm wearing this dress so I could cover up my wings and my cutie mark."
"So you knew about Sunny Town all along?" Mitta asked.
"I had no choice," Merri replied. "After what I had done in Manehattan, I was exiled here."
"What did you do that was so terrible?" I asked.
"I supposedly 'imponyated' one of my favorite florists," replied Merri. "But all along, I dressed up and acted like her because I'm her biggest fan!"
"Like I said before," Mitta spoke, "your secret is safe with us."
"Great."
"Now you better put that dress back on, Merri. Vera Seedy's suspicions might arise."
After that experience, we all walked out of the closet after Merri put her dress back on. She stayed for a while before she left Mitta's house. I still can't believe Merri's secret!
About how she's a pegasus.
With a cutie mark.
Ruby