This diary belongs to: Ruby
The owner of this diary is nine years old.
If this diary is ever lost, please return to this address: 23 Foalyard Street, Sunny Town
Hello diary. My name is Ruby, and I live on 23 Foalyard Street in Sunny Town. What's weird about Sunny Town is that it is not located in a vast area; it is in the Everfree Forest. That's right; the Everfree Forest. Y'know all of those tales about the plants and animals taking care of themselves? The weather working in strange ways? A magical zebra living in a small hut? Those tales are all true because they got passed down by word of mouth to here: Sunny Town.
Sunny Town isn't as bad as other ponies make it out to be. In fact, the only bad thing about us is that we have vastly different beliefs than other normal ponies. Everypony here is a blank flank and an earth pony. We believe that pegasi, unicorns, and ponies with cutie marks are a curse to life in Sunny Town. Of course that's not what it's like in other towns and cities in Equestria, but apparently we civilians here in Sunny Town care about those beliefs very much.
For example, a unicorn moved into Sunny Town one day. Vera Seedy, our mayor, would immediately seek out this new citizen and welcome them. She would carefully examine them for a horn, a pair of wings, or a cutie mark. In this case, this is a unicorn that has a cutie mark. Any pony that doesn't follow the beliefs of Sunny Town would be breaking the rules, right? Vera would immediately notice that, and would question the unicorn citizen. I imagine that she would be saying this:
"Oh I'm so sorry miss, but you can't live here. You are a unicorn and you have a cutie mark. We only let earth ponies with no cutie marks live here."
Then the unicorn would probably say this:
"Huh? What's up with that?"
Then the unicorn would realize the surprisingly-large amount of earth ponies and blank flanks in Sunny Town.
"I'm sorry, but you must leave."
"W-why? I just want to live here and-"
"LEAVE NOW!"
The unicorn would be left with nothing to say as the other citizens from Sunny Town would crowd around her. Vera would just be standing there, watching her citizens mob around the unicorn. I wouldn't be doing that, of course. It feels just, y'know, wrong! I would just be staying inside with my best friend named Mitta.
Mitta is not a filly like me. She is a youthful mare who is around sixteen years old. She befriended me after my parents had, well, I'll just explain that later...
Anyways, back to my example. So, many ponies would swarm around and mob the unicorn, Vera Seedy watching them with a wicked smile on her face. The citizens take the unicorn away to a special building. Then, erm, something happens...
Oh no. I hate describing what comes next. After everypony prepares the unicorn (as I've mentioned before) for, erm, the thing, Vera Seedy tells everypony to gather in the town square. I hate gathering in the town square for anything, even when it's not because of "the thing". I must mention that I'm painfully shy around other ponies except for Mitta. This was because she was my babysitter before, y'know, things happened to them...
So after everypony has congregated in the town square (including me and Mitta. Mayor's orders...), Vera Seedy walks over and says something like this to everypony:
"Everypony, we are gathered here today to witness..."
Everypony would grow silent.
"...a cremation."
Soon, everypony would be forced to watch the unicorn burn to death. It was gruesome; so gruesome that I wanted to look away at once. But everypony has to watch.
Sometimes, there are even more gory punishments than cremating somepony. Sometimes somepony else other than Vera Seedy is in charge of putting somepony to death. It's really dark sometimes in Sunny Town, but I get through it somehow.
Now, about my parents...
They're dead.
They accidently discovered their cutie marks when they asked permission from Vera Seedy to go on a vacation to Manehattan for a week. Mitta was my babysitter for the entire week, and I couldn't be any happier...
Until my parents came home.
My dad had the cutie mark of a house and my mother had the cutie mark of a purse. Too bad our mayor Vera Seedy noticed. By the time I ran up to her quarters it was already too late. My parents were ordered to be executed at 2:30 p.m. that one Thursday. They were brutally sliced open with a knife and beat to death with it. It was a very sad and bittersweet day. I still grieve to this day while I stay at Mitta's house. I still don't like to talk about my parents' deaths...
Perhaps I should talk about something happier now. Oh, I know! How about I talk about my favorite citizens of Sunny Town? Oh, I could go on about that right now!
So, there's Grey Hoof. He is the party planner of Sunny Town. He holds all of the celebrations like birthday parties, weddings, foal showers... Whatever you can name, he'll start a party for it. He's so friendly and outgoing!
Gladstone is one of the most mellow ponies I've ever met. He's usually content with everything in his life, be it neighbors, living conditions, or something else. When he's not content with everything, he tries to right every wrong he sees and hears to be mellow again. I guess I could say that he'd even be mellow when he's dead.
Now on to Roneo and Starlet. They've been dating since two months ago. At that time it was just a cute little crush that they had on each other. Then one day, Roneo finally got his head out of his flank and asked Starlet on a date, hoping she'd return the feelings he hoped she had. Of course she said "yes", and now they are sweethearts who won't seem to ever shut up about each other. They're still pretty nice to me, though...
Lastly there is Three Leaf. She loves to converse about leaves. She loves to go bird-watching; sometimes Mitta and I tag along with her. The Everfree Forest can be dangerous and scary as everypony says, but Three Leaf loves to just angrily stare it in the face.
I've already talked about Mitta. In fact, I'm sitting in her house right now, writing in this diary. She's the one who gave me you, diary. Well, it's about time I should be getting to sleep. Goodnight, diary.
Ruby
Dear Diary,
Everything I think of comes back to Mitta. She's almost like a mother figure to me. She's the one of the nicest ponies I've ever met besides the other citizens of Sunny Town and my parents. Every time I think of my parents, my mind drifts off to Mitta. Probably because she was my babysitter for that week. I had no idea that what would happen to my parents during their time in Manehattan would get them killed.
Occasionally I think of Vera Seedy (the most selfish pony in Sunny Town). I don't know why, but when I do, I feel like punching or kicking something. She looks all nice and caring on the outside, but on the inside of that candy-colored body, she's a monster. Everypony here feels like she's doing the right thing because she follows and enforces "the beliefs". Those so-called "beliefs" are just a pony's tale! Why would being a unicorn or a pegasus be a curse to life? More importantly, why would having a cutie mark be a curse to life? Getting a cutie mark only tells you that you've finally found who you are; it becomes a part of you. Now I don't have a cutie mark yet, but I want to get one. Sadly, that would get me exiled, beaten, or even killed...
By that foul-minded Vera Seedy. I scoff at her face every day. She is a disgrace to Sunny Town. Wait, a disgrace to Equestria. She doesn't deserve to be here. She made us all believe that cutie marks, pegasi, and unicorns are a curse! However, we have to stick with the "beliefs". Sigh.
My mind floats back to Mitta whenever I think of the ponies in my town who question the beliefs. She and I are some of those ponies. We are in the same boat; two fish in the same fishbowl. Whenever somepony gets exiled, beaten, or killed in Sunny Town, she starts crying a river of her own salty tears.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Why? Why must this happen? EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!!!!!!!!"
I try to comfort Mitta, but she either ignores me or ends up crying even more. I can tell that she's getting tired of all the times that she hears that somepony is "unfit" to live in Sunny Town.
Hey! Mitta's coming up to me right now! In fact, I'm in her house because I live there now. She obtained custody over me after my parents died. They had "the mark"; they had to go.
"Hey Ruby! What are you writing in there?"
Hmm, what should I say to her? Ooh! I know!
"I'm writing about you in my diary, Mitta! Wanna read it?"
"Of course, sweetie!"
Okay diary. I'm handing you over to Mitta right now. Trust me: you'll be in good hooves for now.
Since I'm writing in you again diary, this must mean that Mitta handled you well.
"Don't worry Ruby. I handled your diary quite well."
See? Of course Mitta wouldn't rip you to shreds! Anyways, she found your current contents to be, well, interesting...
"You really think about me that much?"
"Of course I do, Mitta. You are more than a friend to me."
See diary? Mitta is so sweet and kind! There's literally nothing more that she can offer. Wait! I think she's about to speak again!
"If I am more than a friend to you, than what do I mean to you?"
I know exactly what to tell her, diary.
"You are a very protective pony who hides me from all of the neighsayers in this town. In other words, to me, you feel like..."
Dramatic pause for effect...
"...a mother."
Now I'm just going to leave Mitta there, trying to think of what to say to me. I hope she's excited, flustered, appreciative, whatever other suitable adjectives I can think of...
Mitta is crying tears of joy right now! I think she's proud of me.
"Oh sweetie, I'm so flustered! Well, to me right now, you're like the daughter I've never had."
Okay diary. I'm going to put you down for a sec so I can hug Mitta.
I'm writing in you again now. I just finished giving Mitta perhaps the largest hug in the history of hugs. I can tell that she's proud of me. Recently, she's shone a bright light onto not just my dark past, but Sunny Town's dark past too. She makes everything in my life better, like a mother. It's too bad that Mitta never found love anywhere. One occasion, I asked her why she never "hooked up" with any stallions. She responded with:
"I'm the type of mare who can fend for myself. Do you ever see me gushing over some stallion in a similar romantic situation as of Starlet and Roneo's? Of course not! I've got the brains and I have some common sense. Enough smarts and common sense to be responsible for you."
Some occasions I saw Mitta ranting about how Sunny Town keeps going more and more downhill with each passing month.
"That mayor doesn't care about life! All she cares about is killing, killing, killing! Death, death, death! Blood, blood, blood!"
Then she would impersonate Vera Seedy.
"'Look everypony! I'm the biggest idiot this side of the Everfree Forest! I don't care about anything except killing ponies and laughing at the sight of blood! Those beliefs are true! The curse is REAL!'"
Mitta may seem nice sometimes, but when you get her mad, she flies into a ranting rage. Don't even talk about the time Mitta dissed Gladstone's conspiracy theory that one occasion.
Oh ponyfeathers! I'm yawning! It's close to my bedtime. Time to go to bed, diary. But before I stop writing:
Everything that I think of comes back to Mitta. Don't forget that.
Ruby
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
