Before the cutie mark crusaders Sweetie Belles life was very different, and so were her friends.
Before the cutie mark crusaders formed Sweetie Belles life was very different, and so were her friends. Back when all her classmates were blank flanks and the bullying and teasing hadn't started Sweetie Belles two best friends were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
"Sweetie Belle! Please could you and your friends help me down here for a moment." Rarity called upstairs to her sister. The three fillies dropped their glossy fashion magazines and trotted downstairs to the shop. Rarity instantly dragged them onto the raised platform in the middle of the room and placed a large hat onto each of their heads. She started sticking feathers into the hats while the three friends stood still, excited to help. The door swung open and two mares walked in.
"Oh my gosh, that's Octavia Melody!" Sweetie Belle whispered. The three fillies watched as the cellist and Rarity hunted for a suitable gown for her blue haired friend DJ Pon-3.
"Oh yes, I think this one is perfect." Rarity said, circling round a sparkly black dress.
"I don't like it, it's too tight." The DJ complained, making Octavia sigh at the three young girls giggle.
"Vinyl it's meant to be tight, that's the point of it. We'll take it." Octavia smiles gratefully at Rarity and hands over the right amount of money.
"300 bits Tavi, that's crazy. It's just a dress! Why do I have to go to this gala anyway." the two argued as the walked out of the door. Rarity returned to the hats, making a few last alterations before squealing.
"They're perfect!" She lifted the three hats with her magic and placed them carefully into a box.
"Rarity can we have dresses like the one those mares just bought?" Sweetie Belle asked. Rarity went rummaging through a box and pulled out three sparkly black dresses.
"Here you go girls, these should fit you. They were supposed to be much bigger than that but I ran out of material and made them too small and had to scrap them." The three girls grabbed a dress each and ran up to Raritys room to apply some makeup and style their manes.
"How do I look?" Sweetie Belle asks, checking herself out in the mirror.
"Almost as good as me." Diamond Tiara states, joining her by the mirror.
"But neither oh you look as good as me." Silver Spoon says. The three best friends laugh happily and sing their little song.
"Bump, bump, sugar lump, rump!" they laugh happily.
"Don't worry girls, we won't be here long." Filthy Rich tells the three fillies lagging behind him.
"Ugh daddy I don't see why we had to come with you to buy apples." Diamond complains as they walk to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres.
"If you want me to take you to Sugarcube Corner you have to come with me to buy my apples." the stallion tells his daughter before knocking on the large wood door. It swings open and an orange mare with a yellow mane and tail and brown hat stands in front of them with a smile.
"Well howdy Mr. Rich! Apple Bloom, go get Mr. Rich's order!"
"On it sis!" they hear from inside the barn followed by lots of shuffling and shoving. A filly about the same age at Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle shoved two large crates out of the front door. She leapt over the crate to join her sister.
"That'll be 40 bits please, Mr. Rich." Applejack said with a forced smile. Filthy Rich handed over bits with a small sigh.
"Thank ya kindly sir." Applejack said before swinging the door shut. Filthy used his front hoof to push the two heavy crates to the waiting taxi.
"Are we going to Sugarcube Corner now?" Diamond asked her father, brushing the mud off of her hooves.
"Yes we are." He said, hopping into the taxi after the three fillies.
"Such a shame about that other girl living on a farm, she had so much... potential." Diamond mused. Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon agreed with her.
"Her bow was so cute!" Sweetie squeaked.
"I'd love one in silver. Or maybe grey. Or a light pink." Silver Spoon lists, making everyone laugh as the pull into Sugarcube Corner. They trot inside and take a table by the window, the best one in the store.
"Three chocolate milkshakes and three rainbow iced cupcakes." Mr. Rich orders from Mrs Cake, the slightly plump, smiley co-owner of Ponyvilles best cake shop.
"Thank you daddy." Diamond Tiara smiles as sweetly as she can for her father.
"Anything for my little sugar lump." He says fondly, ruffling her hair. Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon laugh slightly at the pet name her father has given her but she just flutters her eyelids, keeping him sweet, knowing that there was new tiara she wanted. He trotted out of the store to take his days purchase home and instantly Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon burst into laughter that, while to others seem malicious, was just friendly fun.
"What do you want to be when you're older?" Sweetie Belle asked her friends, slowly sipping her milkshake. They all thought for a moment.
"Rich and famous," Diamond Tiara told them with a grin, making the two fillies roll their eyes at her.
"But famous for what?" Sweetie Belle asked her.
"Modelling. Like Fleur Dis Lee." She said with a smile. The three thought of the famous white unicorn who had been an idol of sorts for Diamond. Sweetie turned to Silver Spoon.
"What about you?"
"Uhm. I guess I just want to be a planner for important ponies. Attend all the popular Canterlot events like the grand galloping gala and help organize events like fashion shows." She said, a dreamy look filling her eyes for a moment before snapping to Sweetie Belle.
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to be a fashion designer like my sister." She said with confidence as though it was all she ever wanted to do. At that moment and crash could be heard from outside. Everyone in the cafe ran outside to see what had happened. A young orange pegasus lifted up her head and smiled nervously at everyone.
"New trick, didn't go quite right," she laughed nervously. Everyone groaned and trotted back inside except for Mrs Cake who stayed to help the filly out of the bin.
"Isn't she in our class?" Diamond asked. Sweetie Belle stared at her, trying to work out who she was.
"Scootaloo. She doesn't always make it though. Guess it's because she has no parents to get her there." Silver Spoon muses. She begins to talk about rumors surrounding the pegasus with Diamond, but Sweetie doesn't join in as she usually would. Instead she stares at the girl who is fixing a wheel on her scooter. She seemed different but not in a bad way. Her eyes were full of hope but also an annoyance. She hopped on her scooter and began to wildly flap her wings, propelling her forwards. Her wings were clearly too small.
"Must be why she can't fly." Diamond interrupts Sweetie Belles thoughts.
"A pegasus who can't fly. I'm not surprised no one wants her." Diamond sniggers. Anger boils up inside Sweetie Belle and she takes and a long drink of her milkshake to try and keep it down. She felt a strange connection to the girl for some reason. She knew what she had to do. She had to meet her.
Sweetie Belle trotted through the alley ways she had been warned against for so long. A rustling in front of her made her jump. She considered running back until she realized it was just a raccoon rummaging through rubbish.
"Come on Sweetie Belle, not far now." she muttered to herself, taking a deep breath and continuing through the alley. Sweetie Belle sees the big building at the end and breaks into a run, desperate to get there. She knocks on the door and a kind looking woman opens it to her.
"Oh, hello. What're you doing here?" She smiles at the filly who gulps nervously.
"I'm here to see Scootaloo." she whispers. The woman allows her in.
"You know Scootaloo doesn't get many visitors, I'm sure she'll be very happy to see you." Sweetie Belle trots silently behind her, up to a small room in a tower at the top of the home.
"Scootaloo, there's someone here to see you! Go on in deary. I'll be downstairs if you need anything." Sweetie walks in and smiles at the orange filly.
"Hey Scootaloo, I don't know if you know me from scho-"
"Yeah I know you. You hang out with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. You're Sweetie Belle right? Have you come here to tease me like all the others do?" She asks, bitterness creeping into her voice. Sweetie Belle is taken aback.
"Tease you? Why in Equestria would I tease you?" She squeaks.
"Because I can't fly nitwit."
"So? I'm not very good at magic."
"Really?!" Scootaloo spins around to look at the white unicorn who stares intensely at a lamp. A green aura begin to glow around both her horn and the lamp. Sweetie Belle scrunches up her face and makes the lamp lift up, barely a centimeter, before it crashes back down. She pants as through she just ran a marathon.
"See, not good." she manages to get out. Scootaloo grins at her.
"You're not bad, you just need some practice." She laughs.
"Sweetie Belle look!" Diamond Tiara runs across the cafe, pushing Scootaloo out of the way to get to her friend. She turns to show Sweetie Belle her flank, a tiara cutie mark lies there.
"That's great Diamond! What does it mean?"
"It probably means I'm going to be rich and famous!" She grins. Sweetie Belle chuckles.
"Remember the day we became friends? I was wearing Rarity's clothes and makeup, I felt like a celebrity!" Sweetie says.
"Oh yes and I came over to you to tell you how much I liked your mane!" Diamond adds.
"And then my daddy offered to take us all out for milkshakes. We all dressed up like princess' before we left." Silver giggles. The three sigh happily.
"Oh and then we went back to Rarity's and ruined one of her brushes trying to get the sugar out of Silvers hair after Pinkie Pie showed us her Sweet Sugar Shimmy" Sweetie says.
"So anyway, you should get your cutie mark by next week." Diamond suddenly changes the subject of the conversation.
"And why's that?"
"Because I got mine last week and Diamond got hers this week so it only makes sense for you to get yours next week!" Silver says. Sweetie gulps nervously.
"Well? What is it? Why're you hiding it?" Diamond asks. Sweetie Belle tugs at the dress she put on this morning to hide her blank flank.
"It's uh, uhm, it's a needle and thread!" She lies.
"Lets see it then!" Silver Spoon insists.
"I don't want to, I don't want to draw the attention away from Diamonds, not with her cute-ceañera tomorrow." Diamond tugs roughly at the dress covering Sweeties flank.
"You lied to us? Why would you lie to us?" Silver Spoon asks sadly. Sweetie Belle blushes.
"Because she's just a blank flank. She's nothing special. She's just another little kid." Diamond hisses before running out of the cafe. She turns around a corner where she falls to the ground and cries.
"Diamond? What's wrong?" Silver asks.
"Sweetie Belle lied to us! Why would she lie to us?! I mean this was supposed to be a big thing for the three of us but you can't rush a cutie mark! I just wish she hadn't lied to us." Silver Spoon nods understandingly and wraps a leg comfortingly around the crying friend.
Sweetie Belle stood alone in the corner of the room, watching as all the children around her laughed, each with a bright cutie mark on their flank.
"Hey Sweetie Belle. You didn't get your cutie mark yet? I thought you were supposed to get it this week." Scootaloo chuckles. Sweetie Belle smiles sadly.
"No I didn't get it. And I'm basically the only kid in class without one." Scootaloo turns around.
"Not the only one." She says.
"You don't have your cutie mark either?! This is great! Do you want a cupcake?" the two giggle and go towards the snack table where Diamond and Silver are stood. Diamond glares at the two and Silver casts them a sad glance before the two trot off.
"I thought you guys were friends?" Scootaloo asks.
"Were. Things change I guess." She says, a pang of guilt over yesterdays lie turning her stomach.
"Don't worry about it, you don't need those girls. I bet when you get your cutie mark it's way better than theirs! I mean what do they even mean?" the two laugh happily and settle into the party, sitting under a table, eating cupcakes and sharing stories about their past.