When it came to Apple family culture, the idea of individualism was looked down upon, unless anypony’s uniqueness centered around apples. Nearly everypony in the whole family had the word ‘apple’ in his or her name, or their names were composed of words relating to apples, such as “Annie Smith” aka “Granny Smith”

Even longtime acquaintances, and frequent visitors were issued a nicname bearing words representing apples. Ponies who ended up living with Apple family clans or foals fostered and adopted by them were re-named Apples.

As the case with Sweetie Belle, two weeks after being taken in by Applejack, Applejack and the rest of the family began calling her Apple Belle. Sweetie Belle resented this, and repeatly talked back, and said things like, “My name isn’t Apple Belle, it’s Sweetie Belle, get it right!”

And instead of respecting her wish, most of the Apple ponies reacted in anger, and shouted at her or beat her. After she got a hard beating by Applejack for snapping at Granny Smith, Applejack told her, “From now on, yer name is Apple Belle. You get it right, little missy!”

And to prove her point, Applejack dragged her by the ear down to the Ponyville administration office to have her name officially changed. Applejack countered every protest from Sweetie Belle with threats of forced labor and beatings. And she never let up on the threat of having her dehorned.

When her turn came up, Sweetie Belle was taken into an office, while the pony officer asked Applejack to wait in the lounge.

“Your name is Sweetie Belle, is it not?”

“Y-yes, sir,” she stuttered nervously.

“Now then, the proposal here on this application form, is to change your legal name to...’Apple Belle Sweetapple. You are the only one who has the consent to change your name, hence is why we asked your guardian to wait in the lounge, so as not to influence your decision. Now then, do you agree with this nor not?”

Sweetie Belle would not have known if she had a rebellious fit or was actually trying to protect her own identity, and prevent it from being washed over and repainted.

“No sir. I don’t like it. I want my name to still be Sweetie Belle," the filly replied. She thought of her name as a gift from Rarity's (and her own) family.

“Very well, I’ll just mark that as a ‘no,’” the officer said, drawing a huge ‘X’ mark across the paper.

After she got home, Applejack gave her a hard thrashing for that, and she couldn’t sit on her bottom for a week. Applejack was incensed over this little rebellion and vowed to drive any other flare out of her through the forced labor and such.

“...An’ Ah don’t care what them folks in down say, yer’ name is still Apple Belle as far as Ah’m concerned, so don’t ya dare talk back with this ‘Sweetie’ crap!”

Another means of repressing her own identity was the cutie mark talk around winter time, around Hearth's Warming. A bunch of relatives from the surrounding farms stayed at Sweet Apple Acres, and many of them swooned and fawned over Sweetie Belle. She wanted to get away from them but Applejack forced her to spend that two weeks in the guest house with them. While many of the relatives praised her for her good behavior, and said she'd be a great asset to Sweet Apple Acres, those from Nimbuscait, talked about how she needed to be brought up the hardcore way. One creepy religious old coot talked about how she had to be baptized at the cathedral at Nimbuscait. And Applegem never shut up about how she should be dehorned. Many of them took time to teach her how to do every little thing their own way, such as writing, sewing, cooking, reading and speaking. It was part of their loosely collected effort to make her into an Apple pony.

Then for an hour they talked about what kind of cutie mark they'd like to see her have. "Oh, Ah think her cutie mark will be a big shiny red apple."
"Nay, it should be an apple pie"
"What about a cup o' applejuice?
"Psh, Ah think she ought to have a symbol of a heart shaped gala apple."
"Hmf," Applegem scoffed coldly, "If you ask me, it should be an apple shaped gem with a sun on it."

Sweetie Belle was no less creeped out and uncomfortable than Applebloom. Then when Applejack showed up with a bucket of apple chunks for stewing, she remarked, "Any cutie mark them two get is fine with me, so long as it's an apple. Because if it ain't Ah'll hoof beat them two fillies till the sun don't shine in Equestria no more."

Sweetie Belle had recurring nightmares once every few nights. Most often consisted of her discovering she had an apple shaped cutie mark on her flank and the Apple ponies swooning and cheering, as if acting or celebrating in some sick way of how they succeeded in dominating and destroying her. One terrifying dream she had after coming home from Nimbuscait depicted her in the courtyard of the cathedral, those creepy crimson robed priests standing around her, some earth pony chopping her horn off with a large pair of bush clippers, and the apple cutie mark springing up the second her horn came off. And Applegem and Applejack watching, with smiles on their faces. In the dream she cried out for help or for Rarity until the horn was cut off, and blood-saturated ooze dripped down her face. She often woke up in sweat and tears after that nightmare.

Another hurtful thing Applejack did in the name of authority and dominance was when she told Sweetie Belle the bad news.

It was over month after the Carousel Boutique burned down, and Applejack ran out of patience with Sweetie Belle constantly pestering her about Rarity.

“Applejack, when’s Rarity gonna come back?”
“How come we can’t go see her in the hospital?”
“I miss her.”

And one day, when Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were finished work, covered in dirt and manure and exhausted to the point of passing out, Sweetie spouted out, “I don’t want to live here anymore, I want to go back home and live with Rarity again.”

“Apple Belle,” Applejack barked at her, “You want to know the truth? Fine, here it is: Rarity is dead.”

That statement pierced through Sweetie Belle like a bullet. Her big sister, her only family, gone?

“D-dead?” the filly stuttered, trying to hold back tears.

“You got that right,” Applejack confirmed, “She died on the train to Canterlot. She’s dead, and that’s that. An’ besides, Ah’ve heard plenty how she never wanted you, and how you were nothing but a burden on her, so she never deserved to take care o’ you. So get over it, and stop asking me about her. There ain’t no Rarity, there ain’t no home, and there ain’t gonna be, ever. We’re yer’ family, and you belong to us now. Sweet Apple Acres is yer home, and that’s that. And quit yer bloody sniveling, it’s pissin me off. From now on, Ah don’t ever want to hear about Rarity again, you hear? Ah don’t want you askin’ about her or talkin’ about her. She’s dead, and there’s more important things in yer’ life that need tendin’ to, like school work and chores. So toughen up, an’ get over it, Apple Belle.”

Applebloom, who sat in the tub with Sweetie Belle and listened to all that was just as surprised with Applejack’s cold insensitivity. When a close friend or family member died, Applejack took more time to talk about the subject more softly and comfort her. Though used to the strictness of it all, she didn’t like how Applejack treated Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle tried to hold back the tears for the rest of the day, and Applejack punished her good and hard everytime she saw a tear. Each tear Sweetie Belle shed, she got whipped with a stick.

That night and a few nights after, when Sweetie Belle cried in her bed, Applebloom climbed into her bed, and nestled up to her to comfort her, something Applejack refused to do when Sweetie Belle came to her for comfort.

And so Sweetie Belle ended up having to repress her grief about losing Rarity and pretend like it never affected her. One time or another, she felt guilty for being mean to Rarity and wanting to replace her with Applejack as her big sis. She prayed to Celestia over and over again. She thought that dispute resolved itself when Rarity showed up to race with her at the Sisterhooves Social. She and Rarity had their conflicts but in the end they were family. Sweetie Belle couldn’t believe that Celestia, the god queen of all things, actually took Rarity away from her over some mislead thoughts.