As I woke up that morning, I just knew it was going to be a good day! The sun was shining through my window, but I was able to wake up with the sun’s warm, nurturing rays, instead of being forcibly wrested from bed by its harsh glare.
Once I rolled up the window, a bird landed on the sill. I grabbed a few crumbs I had leftover from baking the day prior and gave it to him, and the kind dear gave it his all with a chirping song. He certainly looked like he was into it, as he puffed up his chest after I thanked him and complimented him for his efforts after.
Then I went for my shower, and it was simply divine. Though our town had gone through growing pains, the worst of the plumbing and sewage issues were behind us, and it had been over a month since I had to use cold water. The warm water was great. I’ll admit to being a little vain after as I looked at myself in the mirror, spun around a few times and gave a short whistle. A mare likes looking good, and after lathering my coat and mane, I’m certain whoever came by for some muffins would stop to look twice at me.
If that pony happened to be a stallion who was single, well, that was all the better.
Drifting downstairs in my small cottage, I planned out my day. In the morning, I would be baking muffins. In the afternoon, I would run the small restaurant in town. Finally, I’m sure I could find some stallion who would be able to sweet-talk me at night.
I hummed to myself. Yep, today truly was looking to be good.
Then Starlight Glimmer showed up.
“Good morning, Sugar Belle,” Starlight Glimmer greeted me as I went outside to sweep off my front deck. She had apparently been taking a walk through town, and I had come out at just the right moment to see her.
“G-good morning, Starlight,” I greeted her back. In lieu of saying anything more to her, I pressed my tongue up against the roof of my mouth.
“How have you been doing? It’s been a few days since I talked with you last. Has everything been going well?”
“Y-yes,” I said. “I’ve been doing great. The sugar beets down at the farm are turning out well, I think we’ll be seeing a bumper crop this year.” I didn’t want to talk about myself, so instead I would talk about the farm.
Starlight beamed at that. “That’s great news, Sugar Belle!” She said. “Are you baking today? I would love to have some of your muffins later on, if that’s fine with you.”
I swallowed, and nodded. “Yes, yes I am. I’m baking some this morning, which kind would you like?”
Starlight paused. I didn’t know her as well as Double Diamond did, but I thought I could read her well. She was trying to weigh the merits of going for broke on her ‘everypony is equal’ mantra and refusing to single herself out for something as frivolous as the berries in her muffins. Fortunately, Starlight seemed to be in a good mood today, and wasn’t as fanatic as she was on other days.
“I’ll take some cranberry muffins, if that is alright with you.”
I smiled. I genuinely liked baking muffins, and it was always nice to know somepony else asked after my baking them. “Certainly. A half dozen?”
“Yes, that would be great, thank you!”
We traded idle pleasantries for another couple of minutes, before Starlight saw another pony and excused herself to go talk with him.
I exhaled. My body was trembling. I bit down on my tongue, quickly retreating back into my cottage. I needed to find a bag to breathe into, and quick.
I didn’t know how Starlight could tolerate those muffins. I could barely stomach them. I just didn’t understand, honestly. Starlight had gone through the same Equalisation process as the rest of us, using Meadowbrook’s staff, yet she was still talented at magic.
She had singlehoofedly kept the town going, taming the wild weather of this land so remote no other pony in Equestria wanted to settle it. Where the pegasi struggled to seed cloud formation for the crops and reservoir, Starlight was able to near-effortlessly generate clouds with her magic. Were it not for her, we might have had to pack up and quit our town long ago.
I had asked Starlight once some time ago how she was still able to use her magic so well. She told me at the time that it was through practice, as well as through her personal drive to see the project she had pioneered continue. I guess I had to do the same, practicing both my magic and my baking skills, to get up to the level of form I had before.
But it was worth it. I looked around town every day, and saw everypony so happy. The foals who bounced around so gaily were full of energy. I knew, in my heart of hearts, that this was the place I would like to raise my future foals. They would have their place here.
The timer went off. I cut the magical heater to the oven off. Opening the oven door with my magic, I moved the baking pan out, and took a whiff of the muffins. “They, they smell divine,” I said, even as I trembled.
“Heads high, ponies! Marching proud!”
I raised my head. That was unmistakably the sound of Starlight Glimmer outdoors.
“All together now! Every one of you! No pony left behind!”
I smiled. Yes, just like Starlight had said, no pony left behind. Any foal I had would fit right in.
Then I comprehended her words, as I heard the town’s anthem start up. There must have been new ponies in town! After a brief check to make sure the heater was off, I quickly trotted outdoors to join in the chorus.
It took all my self-discipline not to squee. New ponies in town! There were six of them, even, and one of them was an alicorn! I would have to show them just how great Equality was. I hoped they could save us.
I watched as the six took a seat right outside my cottage, and listened in on them as I looked out the peekhole. Thank goodness my door was so thin I could eavesdrop through it.
“Really, girls. They may do things a bit differently than we're used to, but that's no reason to be rude.”
I frowned. The other ponies weren’t receptive to our message? How could that be? Equality was the perfect solution to all of life’s problems, after all.
“No, the reason to be rude is that they all keep staring at us!”
My frown deepened. Of course they’re all staring at you, I thought. You are new in town, and you might even join us. Why wouldn’t they?
“Need something?” A stallion shouted. That was unmistakably Double Diamond. I don’t know what it was about the Earth pony, but Starlight Glimmer trusted him, more than she trusted anypony else. I don’t know if she completely trusted him, but Double Diamond was the closest. I had wondered on more than a few occasions if they were a thing, but at times Diamond seemed more a lap dog than Starlight’s significant other.
“Uh, no, we’re good!” Answered a nervous-sounding mare, who I think was the alicorn princess. That wasn’t good. Was she having doubts about joining our town, too?
I rolled my eyes. Double Diamond was many things, but he really didn’t know how to sweet-talk a mare. Shouting from across the street like that didn’t help.
No, no bad thoughts, I scolded myself, and put on a smile. I was going to show them the best our town had to offer, no ifs, ands or buts about it!
Opening the door, I went to stand by them, waiting to take their order.
“...to the bottom of why the map sent us here, we'll need the help of these ponies.”
I had no idea what this map was the alicorn was referring to, but it sounded like something important for them to show up in our insignificant little town in the middle of nowhere.
“I think we ran off to the end of Equestria before we even knew what that map was!”
I held my smile wide, hoping to take their order, only to drop my smile right there. Gracious, that orange mare was loud!
“If we were at the end of Equestria, we'd be sitting on a big 'A'! Teehee, get it?”
That was a joke worthy of letting out a groan that never ended. I bit my tongue.
“Oh, please, Miss Pie! This is hardly the time for jokes! We've come all this way and for what?” I backed away, as the white-coated unicorn mare nearly poked me in the eye as she brought a hoof down. That was close!
And what had she mentioned? Miss Pie? Oh, I hoped she wouldn’t dislike my muffins. I don’t have any pie crusts or filling right now to bake a pie with. I creased my eyes, and took my hooves off the table. Maybe if I walked around a bit I could get their attention?
The alicorn princess replied, speaking even lower than before but still loud enough I could hear her. “Maybe you're right. But we're here now, and it sure feels like something's wrong.”
“That and two bits'll get you a cup of cider.”
OK, seriously, what was wrong with these ponies?! I had been standing in front of them for a solid minute, walked around them so everypony could see I was there, and they still hadn’t noticed me!
Breathe, Sugar Belle, breathe. You can be cordial, I told myself.
“Is this a good time?” I asked. I gave myself an A for effort.
The yellow pegasus at least seemed to acknowledge me, but she spoke to everypony else instead. “We shouldn't be bickering like this in front of our new friends. Really, Applejack, you're almost as bad as Rainbow Dash!”
“Woah, don’t drag me into this!” Said the other pegasus in the group of six mares.
Wow! They’re having an argument! I thought excitedly. Trotting around the table, I asked, “Is your friendship ending?!” This was great. Ponies who were having issues with others would make a good fit once they saw how petty their arguments were and everything would be so much nicer if they were equal.
The pink pony said something, and my body shrank away instinctively as she towered over me suddenly, but I didn’t otherwise pay attention as I saw Double Diamond across the street. Diamond was looking at a menu, and the poor dear looked like he was just about salivating. He must have been starving! He also had his eyes shifted sideways, looking towards us.
I swallowed, as I did my best to sound confused. I needed to find Party Favor, and fast. Perhaps these ponies would be our salvation.
I just wish they weren’t such rude and uncouth ponies, though, outside of the one pegasus of course. How could they be so mean to badmouth my muffins like that, too?!
Author's Note
The idea for this was on rewatching The Cutie Map, and seeing that scene where the Mane 6 are talking, Sugar Belle comes out, and they completely ignore her for several lines. Once I saw that, I decided to write something from her perspective in that scene, but then fleshed it out a bit for her whole day up to that moment. The Equal Four are thoroughly underappreciated and underutilised, so here's a fic for Sugar Belle (and later, perhaps something for Double Diamond).
Sugar Belle is, of course, meant to be slightly unreliable, as she lies to herself at times about how life in the village is, and is a bit schizophrenic, thanks to the Cutie Mark removal.
This was going to originally be a lot more experimental than I ended up, with a more in-depth 'stream-of-perspective' writing, but partways in I decided to trim my ambitions significantly.
