"How could you betray you us, Thunderlane?!" Soarin remarked. "After everything we've been through, this is what our friendship means to you?!"
"Oh, don't take it personally," Starlight taunted. "Your friend simply saw the light and opted to join the winning side. In time, you'll all see it my way."
"Sorry guys," Thunderlane apologized. "But if giving up my cutie mark means I'll be allowed to stay in this village with all these nice ponies, then I'll be glad to do it. No hard feelings, I hope you'll all join me before long." But his friends said nothing more, they gave him cold glares and looks, before they were sent back into the by Starlight and the door slammed shut with a thud.
Starlight smiled. "We have a new friend, everypony! Thunderlane has joined our ranks!" The villagers all clapped and cheered in delight. But Starlight quickly moved a hoof to shush them. "It's too early to celebrate, there's an important order of business that we need to clear up immediately. It would seem that, unfortunately, there are some in our midst who might be... dissatisfied with their life in this village," The villagers cheers turned to gasps, and if anyone had been paying attention they would've noticed three ponies start to look very nervous. "Unfortunately, it's all too true, my friends!" Starlight declared. "But not to worry, Thunderlane met with the would be traitors before he switched sides. So, Thunderlane, will you kindly tell us the names of those ponies who so desperately missed their cutie marks, that they would sneak around in the shadows and talking to strangers about it? Just so we can be sure your intentions are indeed pure."
Thunderlane gulped, he hadn't been expecting Starlight to ask him that. "I don't know who they were, I don't really know all your names and faces yet!" He spoke up, hoping Starlight wouldn't see through his lie.
"Names don't matter, these ponies must've spoken to you and your friends directly," Starlight explained, pressing Thunderlane harder. "Kindly point them out! We can't have traitors trying to undermine my leadership, without me this entire village as we know it would fall apart!"
Thunderlane gulped, and started to sweat! What was he supposed to say?! What should he do?!
Fortunately, Party Favor came rushing forward and confessed. "I confess, Starlight! It was me! It was only me! But I only wanted it back for a little while! I swear!"
"And you're absolutely sure it was only you?" Starlight asked Party Favor, as if she suspected he wasn't telling the whole truth.
"I just wanted to remember what it was like, that's all," Party Favor tearfully confessed. "I throw myself at your mercy, Starlight."
Starlight just mocked Party Favor in a condescending tone. "So you wanted your old cutie mark so badly you thought to undermine my authority and disobey my wishes? And no thought to the pain you'd cause your friends. Such selfishness. I guess maybe I was wrong to make you my servant, I thought you could be trusted."
"I'm sorry, everypony! I never wanted to leave the village!" Party Favor apologized, still weeping noticeably.
"Oh Party Favor, what am I gonna do with you?" Starlight scolded. "Don't you see what your actions almost caused?"
But all of a sudden, Double Diamond stepped forward and confessed. "Starlight, if you're gonna punish anypony for what happened yesterday, punish me! I should've kept a closer eye on Party Favor and made sure his behavior would be contained before it got out of control. But I didn't, I let my guard down and he took full advantage of it. Forgive me for my blindness, I could've prevented all of this if I'd just come to you about Party Favor as soon as I suspected he was up to no good."
"Well then, if you're really that insistent on accepting the blame, Double Diamond, I guess I have no choice," Starlight remarked, frowning. "I can't believe you of all ponies would disappoint me, I trusted you with all my heart!"
Double Diamond only hung his head in shame. "Don't go easy on me, Starlight. I know I've got a long way to go to regain your trust." And with that, he was forced into the same hut as Shining and the other stallions, much to the relief of both Thunderlane and Party Favor.
"So, having seconds thought about working as Starlight's right hoof stallion?" Shining asked Double Diamond, looking at the stallion skeptically. "I've dealt with scenarios like this before, ponies like you think you have it all, but in reality you're just a pawn to be disposed of when you outlive your usefulness."
"I don't know what's gotten into Starlight, honest," Double Diamond insisted, banging his head against the door. "I believed what she was saying, I was the first pony to join her cause and free myself from my cutie mark. At first it wasn't so bad, Starlight went around, looking for ponies whose cutie mark left them unhappy and bothered. Slowly but surely our village grew, but as time went on, something changed inside of her. Now Starlight's become a monster, willing to do anything and hurt anyone to get what she wants! I just wish I knew why she hates cutie marks so much."
"You mean, she hasn't told even the likes of you?!" Fancy Pants asked. "I find that hard to believe."
"She never told me anything," Double Diamond replied. "Every time I asked where her cutie mark was, or why she despised cutie marks so much, she would always change the subject to something else."
"Guess it's all up to Thunderlane, now. As for you, Double Diamond, you'd better hope Thunderlane brings our marks back soon," Soarin warned. "Because I'm not sure I can buy that you've suddenly had a change of heart. How do we know you didn't choose to be thrown in here, so you could spy on us and extract more information?"
"I know about Sugar Belle," Double Diamond confessed. "And I've known for a long time. Party Favor always told me that it was nothing and I was just being paranoid, but I sensed she and Party Favor were part of a conspiracy. I could've rated her out to Starlight and thwarted your plan with Thunderlane, but I didn't. Your plan was to have Thunderlane pretend to defect, right?"
Shining nodded. "You catch on fast, Double Diamond. And it looks like so far it's working out pretty well."
"You must be crazy if you think you can fool Starlight! She's way too paranoid!" Double Diamond frantically protested. "You will all accept our ways, it's only a matter of time!" He then went off into a corner to sulk and be alone with his thoughts.
"Gee, this guy's a real barrel of laughs." Soarin dryly remarked.
"Actually, laughs don't come in barrels. They come from inside you as your body's response to delight." Braeburn flately stated.
"So, just what are we supposed to do until Thunderlane brings us our cutie marks?" Big Macintosh whispered. "And what about old Double D over there? You think we can trust him?"
Shining looked at Double Diamond, trying to read the stallion's body language for any hints about his intentions. He couldn't pick up on anything though. "I don't know, but he brought up a good point with how he didn't mention Sugar Belle to Starlight. We'll just have to stay as positive as we can. Hopefully, if Double Diamond sees how much we really do like each other, even though we're all different, then maybe we can use him to spread our message to the rest of the village."
Just then, the loudspeaker crackled to life and began to repeat the same propaganda from the previous day.
"Let's just hope that they don't convert any of us in the meantime," Fancy Pants said with great concern. "Stay strong, guys. We can't let them break us!"
Thunderlane was led through the center of the village by Starlight, all of the villagers cheerfully shouting out "Welcome!" as Thunderlane passed by.
"You're all so welcoming, it's almost unnatural. In a good way of course." Thunderlane commented, trying to stay in character.
Starlight led Thunderlane right up to a cottage on the outskirts of town. "All new friends stay with me until their cottage is completed," She explained to Thunderlane. "Let's get you settled in, and then you can enjoy all that our little village has to offer. Who knows? By the time your cottage is ready, we may have to make room for some of your friends. They don't seem particularly strong willed to me."
"You really think they'll break so easily?" Thunderlane asked Starlight.
"I've never met a pony or ponies yet that could defy me for long," Starlight smirked in delight. "Some just take a little more effort to break than others."
"Gosh, how naive can you get?! It's like you don't know my friends at all, Starlight!" Thunderlane thought, though of course he knew not to say such a thing out loud.
That night, after Starlight had gone to bed and fallen asleep, Thunderlane opted to sneak out of her cottage. He tiphoofed to the front door, only to find it locked tight. "Figures! How paranoid can you get?!" Thunderlane thought, looking around for any other possible escape routes. His eyes soon fell upon the chimney, and an idea came into his mind. "It'll be just like the time I played Santa Hooves when Rumble was little." He thought to himself, and crept to the fireplace in the nearby living room.
A short time later, Thunderlane poked his head up from the chimney, completely covered in soot. He coughed and shivered a bit, as the cold night wind blew past him. "How Santa Hooves can do this multiple times in one night and NEVER dirty his coat, I'll never know," He complained to himself, and gave himself a mental pep talk. "Okay, Thunderlane. Get the cutie marks back, that's all you've gotta do. Just sneak up to that cave, find a way to break open the vault, and retrieve those cutie marks."
However, Thunderlane hadn't gotten very far, when he suddenly Party Favor come up to the front door and knock on it. Thunderlane crept across the rooftop, lowering himself down to the ground and opting to peek in through the first floor window. He could hear everything that was being discussed.
"Excellent work, Party Favor," Starlight smiled, as she accepted six jars from him. Each one holding the cutie marks of Thunderlane and his friends. "Perhaps you're still good for something after all."
"Oh, it was no trouble, I'm just glad you gave me a second chance," Party Favor bowed, even though there was a clear hint of nervousness contained within his voice. "But I don't understand why you wanted me to bring them here. Thunderlane's one of us now, surely he could be trusted with this task?"
"I need time to determine if he's truly loyal to me and me alone," Starlight explained to Party Favor, eyeing the cutie marks. One in particular caught her attention. "This shield with stars cutie mark belongs to the only alicorn prince in Equestria, it could prove extremely useful to our cause."
"But if Shining Armor becomes our friend, then why should we care about that old cutie mark?" Party Favor asked Starlight. "What if he finds out about this and tries to fake a defection to steal it back? Wouldn't it be better to just keep them stored in the vault til we know Shining and his friends are on our side?"
"Party Favor, it's not your job to think!" Starlight hissed. "It's your job to do as I tell you! So unless you want to share the same fate as Double Diamond, whose punishment I carried out against my better judgement, I suggest you keep your mouth shut! I just want to keep these marks close until everything is... settled. Got it?"
Party Favor gulped. "Y-yes ma'am!" He nodded.
"Good," Starlight smiled. "You may go, Party Favor." And Party Favor obeyed without question, the door slamming shut behind him.
"Oh no! It's as if Starlight knew what I was thinking!" Thunderlane exclaimed, only barely keeping his voice down. "How am I ever going to get the cutie marks back now? This complication could derail everything!"
But just then, there was a loud crash as Thunderlane heard Starlight cry out. "Ow!" When Thunderlane looked, he saw that Starlight had collided with a bucket of water, which had leaked onto her coat. "Ugh! Starlight, you clumsy little foal!" Starlight said to herself, and used her magic to wipe herself off with a towel. When she did so, Thunderlane was shocked to see an actual cutie mark appear on her flank! Said cutie mark was a purple and white star with two two-toned blue glimmering streams that flowed out from it almost like a kite and its strings. "This changes everything!" Thunderlane thought to himself, quickly ducking down from the window (though not before he saw Starlight reapply her fake equals sign cutie mark with make up). "Shining's got to know about this! But how do I tell him without attracting Starlight's attention"