Sugar Belle Origins

My name is Sugar Belle. I was born on the Lower East side of Fillydephlia. I got my cutie mark when I was 14 years old. It’s a cupcake with purple frosting topped off with a cherry on top. It represents my love of baking and cooking. I’d hoped I be a great baker someday.

My friend Berry Flavor got her cutie mark about a week after mine. Hers was a jar of jam with some blueberries on it. We were in the middle of the pack when it came to getting our marks, you know right when the early bloomers stopped bragging about how much better they were than everyone else for finding their calling first and moved on to picking on the ones who were still blank flanks. Honestly I think there are kids like that in every class.

Anyways, both me and Berry were absolutely delighted when we got our marks. We had both loved cooking and our marks seem to confirm this. We would both spend the hours after school coming home and trying out a whole bunch of different recipes from some of the cookbooks we had lying about or got from the library. It was the most fun we had had and the stickiest. Let me tell you this, that maple syrup can be a bitch to get out of your mane, especially when it’s mixed with bubblegum and strawberry jam.

One day though, we both found out about a cooking competition that the school was hosting. All the proceeds goes to charity, but Berry and I were ecstatic to bring out talents out into the world. Berry decided to make a nice apple tart, a favorite of hers but I took a bit of a risk and I was going to try and pull off making an orange velvet cupcake. It was difficult task, especially for an inexperienced baker as I was back then.

And soon the big bake off was upon us. I think the entire student body showed up to watch us. There were about twenty in total, including Berry and I. Imagine our shock when we found out we found out that both of us made it to the top five. So after a short cook off session, we all presented our dishes to the judges. I went before Berry. The judges sampled her work and gave her a nine point eight. A nine point eight! I was unbelievably proud and nervous of my friend at the same time. I mean how could my cupcake compete with that?

But soon the judges were going over my entry and were soon debating quietly. I was a wreck at that point. I thought I had done a horrible job and that they all hated it. Instead I got a ten! I couldn’t believe it. I had won! I was overjoyed as we were presented our metals. I got gold and Berry got Silver. I thought it was going to be the best day of our lives! I mean two best friends sharing their dreams and winning a major competition, what could be more exciting?

As I found out, Berry wasn’t as happy about sharing our dreams as I was.

Soon after the competition she started getting angrier with me, nothing major, but she wasn’t as fun as she used to be around me. She also came over less and less, saying she had to be somewhere else or help a relative move. She also started hanging out with other ponies and we slowly drifted apart. I was upset that one of my closest friends was shunning me for some reason, I thought we could work things out be when I asked her she said I should just get on baking something and moved on to a different topic.

By the time we were in high school we had completely separated. Berry was in more of what you would call the “cool crowd” while I was more into “geek crowd” you know a small group who have a passion for what they like.

One day though, Berry came up to me and asked if I wanted to hang out later that day. I was stunned but thrilled that my friend was interesting in hanging out again. I said yes immediately. So we went over to my house right after school and started baking like we used to but midway through, Berry asked to use the bathroom and so I let her and continued baking. She was in there for a good half hour and when she came back, she said she wasn’t feeling to well and had to go home. I hoped she would feel better and I gave her some medicine before she left.

The next day at class, things seemed off. Everypony around campus was either snickering as I walked by or deliberately trying to avoid eye contact with me. I was baffled by their behavior until I found out why.

Berry Flavor stole my diary and was reading it out to anyone who could hear it. I noticed it was missing earlier that day, but just assumed I lost it in the mess that was my room. She had faked going to the bathroom and had thrown my diary out the window when she found it so she could pick it up without me noticing when she left.

That diary held all my deepest secrets, like my crush on the star hoofball player for the school, Hoof Johnson, and that I still slept with my lucky teddy bear and some really personal information that I’d rather not share.

I was devastated. I couldn’t believe my one time friend had done that to me. I tried to get it back but she kept playing keep away with me as I was struggling to get her even as tears flowed down my eyes. And yet all that time she had this unforgiving smirk on her face, like she was enjoying this. I finally managed to get it, but the damage had already been done. I was a laughing stock at school. So I ran away. I pack all of my belongings and made my way to the train station and boarded the first train and would follow it till the tracks ran out.

“And that’s when I stumbled across you little village,” Sugar Belle finished.

“There, there,” a pinkish purple unicorn said, patting Sugar on the head. “You’re safe here, but do you even know why this all happened?”

“No,” Sugar said “I though Berry Flavor was my friend, I have no idea why she would betray me like that.”

“It’s because of your cutie mark,” the unicorn replied.

“My cutie mark?”

“Yes, you see both you and your friend had similar cutie marks and that led to Berry becoming jealous of you when you won the baking completion.” The unicorn stated.

“But she did amazing in that,”

“But not good enough.” The unicorn replied. “Imagine that you’ve found out that even though you poured your soul into something, worked tirelessly on it, that you were only second best, that even after all that effort you put in, someone was always going to be better than you?”

“I…I guess I would be really upset.”

“Exactly. And that’s the problem with cutie marks, they lead to nothing be petty competition and fuel an unhealthy desire for revenge, or give ponies a necessary sense of superiority and a belief that they are better than other ponies ” the unicorn stated.

“A sense of superiority?” Sugar Belle asked.

“Yes. Imagine if you and Berry’s roles had been reversed. Don’t you think that if she was declared the best baker, she would hold that over you, telling you that you were nothing compared to her?”

“I don’t know if Berry would do that.”

“But she did humiliate you in front of your entire class. And there are ponies out there that love to lord it over those they think are less than them.”

“I suppose you have a point,” Sugar Belle said. “But I can’t get rid of my cutie mark. Getting rid of it is impossible.”

“Not true,” the unicorn said. “At least not anymore. I’ve found a special staff that allows for a pony to rid themselves of the curse that is their cutie mark. I can show it to you if you’d like.”

“Okay,” Sugar Belle replied.

“Then follow me dear Sugar Belle.”

“Okay,” Sugar Bell said again. “Oh by the way, I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Starlight Glimmer dear,” Starlight said. “Now come with me and will fix all your problems.”