Of Love and Lies

Hi. I’m Rei Sonkei. I’m sure you’ve heard of me and the little adventure I went through to get my cutie mark. Well, not much has changed since you last heard of me. My foster parents and I have moved permanently to Ponyville where I set up a little taco stand. You wouldn’t think I was very successful with it, but I do have my regular customers who come every so often to buy a breakfast taco or two. And yes, my foster parents are still out of the house almost 24/7. But all of this is beside the point of this story...

It all started one quiet late summer morning. Business was slow that morning, so I just sat there and watched all the ponies walking through the market. I was considering packing up and calling it an early day when I was approached by the most beautiful filly I had ever seen. She was a unicorn with a pure-white coat that glistened in the summer sun. Her mane was a beautiful lavender and bright pink. Her green eyes sparkled like emeralds. Yet the most interesting part of her was her lack of a cutie mark. I was staring at her for a while before I noticed that she was trying to get my attention. I quickly snapped back to reality and clumsily greeted her.

“Good morning, ma’am,” I said quickly. “Welcome to Ponyville Breakfast Tacos. Can I get you anything?”

“Oh, no thanks,” she replied. “I just haven’t seen you around before and I wanted to meet you.”

“Ok. I’m Rei Sonkei. What’s your name?”

“I’m Sweetie Belle. Have you lived here, long?”

I think about that question for a second. “No,” I finally answer. “I think I’ve only been here for about three months.”

“Oh. Then I guess you don’t have many friends here.”

“No actually.” I pause for a moment before I remember what happened before I actually moved here. “I have met a pony named Pinkie Pie.”

She giggled a little, leaving me to wonder what she found so funny. “She didn’t happen to burst out into song when you met her, did she?”

“Actually, no. Was she supposed to do that?”

Sweetie Belle was about to reply when I heard another mare call her name. The mare was similar to Sweetie Belle in almost every way except she had a long purple mane and tail and three diamonds for a cutie mark. “Oh, no,” said Sweetie Belle. “That’s my sister, Rarity. She’ll kill me if she caught me talking to somepony like you.” She then reached into her saddlebag and gave me a piece of paper that she pulled out. “Here, follow this map to where we can meet, later this afternoon. See ya.” She then quickly ran off.

Wow. She was just... wow! I really had never seen anypony quite so... pretty. I figured I should pack up and get home so I could get ready to go meet her later. So that’s what I did. With a few lessons from Pinkie Pie, I learned how to fit my entire stand into my saddlebag. She personally taught me how to do it and I still can’t figure out how it works.

Later that afternoon, I followed the map to where Sweetie Belle told me to meet her. I came across a treehouse near Sweet Apple Acres and figured that was where she wanted to meet me. I looked inside to see Sweetie Belle and two other fillies who I assumed were her friends inside. What intrigued me most was that none of them had their cutie marks. I’ll never fit in with them all, I thought to myself. Not with my cutie mark. That’s when it hit me. What if I pretended to be a blank-flank? That way Sweetie Belle’s friends would be more likely to accept me and, therefore, I’d be able to spend more time with Sweetie Belle. But for that to work, I can’t let any of those three fillies see me. So I flew back home to get started on my plan.

All I needed to do was apply some dark-green makeup to either flank so as to cover my cutie mark. I knew makeup really wasn’t for a colt, but I had to do everything I could to spend time with Sweetie Belle. Fortunately, I could easily sneak into my foster mother’s room and snoop around. I managed to find something that was about the same color as my coat. I knew I had to work fast, or Sweetie Belle will start wondering where I was, so I got to work right then. But just as I had started, I realized that there was a fatal flaw in my plan... and it was pink. Oh, how could I forget that Pinkie Pie actually witnessed me get my cutie mark? She could ruin everything! What was I going to do? I certainly couldn’t pull a “Cupcakes” or a “SHED.MOV” on her, so my options were limited if I had any at all. Besides, if anything were to happen to her, everypony would instantly know foul play would have been involved. Maybe I could simply talk to her and explain my intentions for her silence. Hopefully that would work. All I could do was apply the rest of the makeup, fly to Sugarcube Corner, and hope she’ll agree.

I had finally made it to Sugarcube Corner. Once I landed, I made sure to go over what I was going to say to Pinkie. “Pinkie, there’s this filly I like, but she and her friends don’t have cutie marks. I figured that the best way to fit in with them would be if I pretended to not have a cutie mark, as well. All I ask is for you to not say anything about my cutie mark to them. The last thing I would need is for her to not trust me.” That was the worst argument I could have ever thought of, but it was Pinkie Pie, so it might work. I decided that was enough and trotted on in. However, when I walked in, I had a feeling of sudden horror. Sweetie Belle and her friends were already there.

“Rei!” she called, waving her hoof. I reluctantly walked over to where they were. “Where were you, earlier?”

“I was... um...” I really hadn’t prepared for this scenario, so I said the first thing that popped into my mind. “The pegasi had some pretty big weather planned for today, and they needed eveypony’s help.” Thank Luna that didn’t sound stupid.

“‘Big weather?’” asked the other pegasus. “But it’s clear today.”

That was true. I could feel myself sweating as I struggled to come up with a response. “Yeah, exactly. It was supposed to be a perfectly clear day without a single cloud in the sky, so they sent out several teams of pegasi to track down and bust every single cloud.” Luck was definetly on my side, today. “A nice, sunny afternoon was definitely worth the extra work,” I added.

“Well, thanks for the nice weather,” said Sweetie Belle. “Wanna sit down and have a cupcake with us?”

“Sure,” I replied. Then, I remembered why I was there. “In fact, cupcakes are on me.” I dashed off before she could tell me that they had already ordered some.

I was galloping as fast as I could across the shop, unable to stop before I crashed into Pinkie Pie. “Hey!” she shouted, getting up. “Watch it!”

“Sorry, Pinkie,” I replied. “I’m kind of in a rush. Can I have a word with you in the kitchen?”

In the kitchen, I told Pinkie about how I had a crush on Sweetie Belle and how I wouldn’t fit in if she and her friends knew I had a cutie mark and how I needed Pinkie of all ponies to stay quiet about it because she was the one and only witness to my cutie mark here in Ponyville. “Wow,” she said. “Some story. And why can’t you just be honest and trot on over to her despite your cutie mark?”

“Because even if she does accept it, there’s no way I’d be able to fit in with all three of them.”

“Fine, I’ll keep quiet about it. But you’re going to owe me.” I simply rolled my eyes and gave her the taco I knew she’d ask for. She took it and ate it in one bite. “Thanks! My lips are sealed!”

“Oh, one other thing. Can I buy four cupcakes?”

I trotted back over to the table where Sweetie Belle and her friends were with the tray of cupcakes perfectly balanced on my head. “Thanks again for the cupcakes, Rei,” Sweetie Belle said.

“It was my pleasure,” I replied, sitting down next to her. “So, can you introduce me to your friends?”

She introduced me to Applebloom, a yellow earth pony with orange eyes and a red mane decorated with a pink bow, and Scootaloo, an orange pegasus with a purple mane and fuchsia eyes. She told me of their club, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and asked me if I wanted to join. Of course, I said yes. The three brought me to their clubhouse, where they all gathered around to induct me into their club. Scootaloo had a pair of drums that she played a fairly dramatic beat on (as well as a head-shaking solo), Sweetie Belle tried to read through a very long script that she got after Scootaloo several times for “forgetting to revise it,” and they gave me a red cape with a blue patch on it.

It was about eight when I finally got back home. I folded up the cape and put it in my drawer, then collapsed onto my bed. That’s when I started to worry. What if Pinkie Pie was right? What if I should have been honest and just told her about my cutie mark? What if she never trusts me again? What if she makes me give back the cape? I really liked the cape. I had stared down the killer of my parents in the past, but I wasn’t as scared then as I was now. Maybe if I just keep a level head and roll with it all, things might not turn out as badly as I was afraid they would. I couldn’t do anything about it now, and it was a long day, anyway, so I just closed my eyes and went to sleep.