Coco Belle
When I first heard about this town on the outskirts of Equestria in Rarity's last letter, I sort of thought she was crazy. A pony named Starlight Glimmer creating a place where everypony all had the same cutie marks? And they saved them all, bringing the cutie marks back? Unlikely. But I would believe anything Rarity said, since she helped me see that working for Suri Polomare had been a terrible idea.
I decided that I should check this town out for myself, maybe ask one of the residents if this story was true. So, the next thing I know, I'm packing my saddle bag for a road trip.
When I first arrive, I think the town looks just fine. Nothing wrong with it. Like Starlight had never been there. Everypony was having fun, playing together as friends. Nothing like what Rarity had explained. I walk up to the first pony I notice. She stands out from the crowd. She was a pink unicorn and had a poofy, purple mane with a cupcake cutie mark.
"Um, Hello." I say shyly. "My name's Coco Pommel. What's yours?"
"Hi!" she looks up at me and smiles. "My name's Sugar Belle! What brings you here?"
"My friend, Rarity, told me about this town." I replied. "I-just wanted to clarify that her story is true." I pulled Rarity's letter out of my bag.
"Shhh!" Sugar Belle shushes me. "Somepony might hear you! Let's talk about this tonight."
"Why can't any-"
"We aren't aloud to talk about the incident around here. Meet me out of town behind those rocks over there tonight!" she whispered and pointed to 2 large rocks. I nodded and walked away, kind of confused. Hadn't she just answered my question? She told me 'the incident', so I would have thought that meant yes, Rarity was telling the truth. Oh, well. I might as well just meet her tonight, anyway.
That night, I waited at the large rocks for Sugar. She soon came into view.
"So, can we talk about it now?" I asked. She nodded.
"Yeah. Sorry about earlier. I just didn't want us getting caught." she apologized. "Now I can tell you the whole story."
"When I first met Starlight, I had no friends and nobody liked me." she started. "She told me, like she told everypony else, that if I gave up my cutie mark and lived there, then everyone would be the same so I'd have lots of friends and be happy." She sighed. "But then, after I agreed, I started missing my special talent, and realized that life wouldn't be so peachy, after all. That's when Twilight and her friends arrived. They were trying to get the cutie marks back, I could tell. But whenever we told her about the cutie mark vault, Starlight took theirs, too. Eventually, we found out that Starlight still had her cutie mark! The whole town turned against her and got their cutie marks back, as well as Twilight and her friends'. Now, we don't have a town leader, so we make our own decisions as a group."
I stare at her, mouth hanging open, completely stunned. "Wow." I finally say. "That's...intense."
Sugar smiled. "I like you, Coco. We should meet again tomorrow evening." She said. I was surprised. I had just met this pony and she was literally already asking to be friends. I also took an immediate liking to her, as well.
"See you tomorrow then!" I waved. Then, I stopped. "Wait. I don't have anywhere to stay. Around here, at least." Sugar stopped in her tracks.
"Hey! You could come stay with me!" she said excitedly. "Like a sleepover! I haven't had one of those in ages!"
"Ok!" I say and follow her home. We have an awesome time sleepovering, or whatever you'd call it!
The next morning, Sugar Belle has left the bed. I get up and look around for her, but she has completely vanished. Panicking, I decide to just wait until she came back. I ended up waiting until Noon. She came through the doors, and I let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh, Sugar!" I exclaim. "Where have you been?! I was worried!"
"I didn't tell you that I would leave you here while I did my work?" Sugar asked. I shook my head. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot. Don't worry. I'll make it up to you this evening. Promise."
"Pinkie promise?"
"What's that?"
"Follow my lead. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I said, doing the gestures that went along with it. Sugar did the same. "It's something Pinkie came up with."
That evening, we were once again at the rocks. Sugar had found an old telescope and brought it with us.
"So, you said you're friends with Rarity?" Sugar asked. We were laying down in the soft, lush grass, gazing up at the sky, side by side. "I remember that she was one of the 6 that saved us from Starlight. Are you friends with the other 5?"
"I guess, but I have a tighter bond with Rarity. She saved me from Suri Polomare, the fashion designer I used to work for. Boy, was she bad news." Sugar giggled.
"Sounds like Rarity saves everypony from something." she whispered, scooting closer to me. It usually bothered me if I was this close to someone, but with Sugar Belle, I actually thought it was ok.
"She used to be my best friend." I told her. "But now it's you." I seriously didn't know you could become friends, best friends, in two nights and 1 day, but we did. I almost regretted saying that, 'cause Rarity had been my friend for a very long time. I'm sure she would understand, though.