Runaway Sweetie

Sweetie Belle lay in the small bed, staring at the white ceiling.

The day had passed in what seemed like a blur. She'd actually enjoyed herself.

Her and the pegasus sisters had eaten pancakes for breakfast in a small café. The sisters had let her have as much syrup on them as she wanted. Whenever she had pancakes at Rarity's, she'd always pour the syrup on Sweetie Belle's pancakes, usually quite a small amount.

They had gone shopping, and Sweetie Belle was allowed to pick out something. Whatever she wanted. She went with a violet scarf, which did a great job of keeping her warm in the cold wind.

Whenever her and Rarity went shopping, she would hardly be able to pick out something she wanted. And when she did, half the time Rarity would find something wrong with it.

"Sweetie Belle, the colour is hideous!"

"The fabric that's made out of looks so cheap, darling..."

And in the evening, they ate at a large restraunt and had hay burgers with fries, and she was even allowed dessert.

Lastly, they went to see a show. It was beautiful, and the actors were beautiful. Everything about it was beautiful.

Then, Blood Moon had rented a room in a large hotel, and this was where Sweetie Belle currently was, in the white sheets of the bed.

Something didn't feel right.

As much as the day had been perfect, and she had enjoyed herself, it didn't feel right.

She didn't know how to describe it, but the day had seemed almost too perfect.

And she was beginning to miss Ponyville.

She missed the boutique, the cutie mark crusaders and the clubhouse.

A part of her was starting to miss Rarity, but the other parts of her remembered Hearts and Hooves day.

She twisted and turned in the bed. Even that didn't feel right. It was too big, and it was cold, and Blood Moon was in the bed next to her.

Everytime she looked at that mare, she felt frightened, and her heart sank.

She wondered what was happening back at Ponyville.

Was anypony missing her?

Had the CMC received her letter?

Was anypony looking for her?

Sweetie Belle rolled in her bed uncomfortably, conjuring up more questions.

It seemed like forever, but at last, the filly grew tired, and closed her emerald eyes.

"OI! WAKE UP!"

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes, shocked and terrified as Blood Moon screamed in her ear and pushed her.

The blue pegasus pushed a little too hard, and sent Sweetie Belle rolling off the bed and into a heap on the floor.

"Come on! Get up! Don't be such a lazybones!" Blood Moon yelled, no apologetic actions or tone whatsoever.

Sweetie Belle stood up slowly, dazed by such a sudden awakening, and with her still blurry vision, was just able to stumble over to her rucsac. Picking it up and slinging it on her back, then wrapping her new scarf around her neck, she followed Blood Moon down the stairs into the dining room.

Sweetie Belle checked the clock on the wall.

7:30AM

Why were they up so early?

It was, predictably, quite quiet. Only a few other ponies were there, helping themselves to cereal, toast, bowls of strawberry yogurt and lots of tea.

Storm Star was already there, sat on a table and waving slowly to the two ponies.

However, Sweetie Belle noticed her eyes right away.

She had dark circles under them, and her crystal blue eyes seemed to have all the life plucked from them and overpowered by faint red.

The two ponies sat down at the table, tea and buttered toast waiting for them.

"Thanks, sis."
Blood Moon began to bite into the toast, Sweetie Belle watching with terror as her sharp jaws ripped it apart viciously.

She then turned to Storm Star, who was simply stirring her tea with a metal spoon, only taking dainty bites from her toast once in a while.

"Storm," Sweetie Belle began after a little while, "are you ok? Your eyes... You look very tired, and you're barely eating."

Storm Star gave a bleak smile.

"I'm fine dear. I just-"

"She had a bad dream last night, is all," Blood Moon interrupted, her toast now leaving no trace besides a couple of small-scale crumbs, "took her ages to get back to sleep."

Sweetie Belle looked back at the grey pegasus, who gave another smile.

"Eat up, darling," she said quietly, "you say I'm not eating much but you haven't touched your toast!"

"Well... if your tired... we could go back to the hotel room. I'm still a bit tired mys-"

"No," Blood Moon shouted suddenly, a few ponies turning to stare at her in disapproval.

The mare cleared her throat, and waited for everypony to cease looking at her before she spoke again.

"What I mean is, we're going somewhere very special today."

Sweetie Belle became curious.

"Where?" she asked.

"It's a big surprise!" Blood Moon finished before continuing to drink her tea. Sweetie Belle was surprised the cup didn't crack due to her pointy fangs gripping onto it.

Sweetie Belle didn't eat all her toast. She was still quite full due to the food she ate the day before, and she was busy observing Storm Star and her unusually quiet behaviour.

The three stepped outside. The air was a lot colder than yesterdays, and Sweetie Belle felt relieved that she had put on her scarf before she left the hotel.

They headed left and began trotting towards... a taxi cart. It was in the middle of the street. Luckily, only a few ponies were up at such an early time, even fewer walking past.

It was being pulled by two pegasi, and a unicorn was sitting inside. However, this unicorn didn't look fancy or well dressed like the other ponies in Canterlot.

This unicorn had dusty fur, so stained by dirt that it's original colour was unrecognisable. One of his hooves looked slightly deformed, and his cutie mark was simply a black splatter.

Sweetie Belle couldn't help but be frightened by this unicorn.

Where were Storm Star and Blood Moon taking her? She would have asked, until the unicorn began speaking.

"Eeey', it's my old favourites again, Storm Star and Blood Moon! And who is this?" The old stallion pointed down at Sweetie Belle, who niw felt more than a little anxious by his appearance.

"Black Splatter, this is Sweetie Belle. We'd like to take her to Cloudsdale, if you please,"

"Cloudsdale? I can't even walk on clouds!" Sweetie Belle panicked. What were they even going to do in Cloudsdale?

"That's lucky I'm here then, missy."

The unicorn winked as he shot Sweetie Belle with a blast of grey magic. She now had auras around her hooves, and it became obvious that he had cast the cloud-walker spell.

"Well, now that your little 'dilemma' is over, you three had better hop on. We have a quite a long way to go!" Black Splatter declared.

Sweetie Belle couldn't bear the thought of riding on the taxi cart with two freaky ponies. She gulped, and was tempted to turn back. However, a blue hoof pushed her up into the cart, and Blood Moon followed quickly, grinning.

"Sorry!" she laughed, even though she barely sounded like the meant it.

Storm Star was last, walking on slowly and hanging her head as she sat down.

"Let's go then!"

Black Splatter gave a signal, and the two pegasi pulling the cart then began to gallop, and within a few minutes of running along the wide path speedily, they opened their wings and the taxi cart was airborne.