Legacy

by NFire

Somepony to Overwatch Me.

“Will you please stop poking me?”

“I have to check and make sure of everything, I mean you came back from being..gone..dead..whatever! This is a first!”

“It is an avatar, would you like me to open my chest and let you see the fiber bundles and connections?”

“Ewwww no!” Twilight put a hoof up and stopped my thought right there. “I’m just seeing if anything’s changed or different about you.”

“How can you even tell? My diagnostics tell me everything is fine, I am somewhat low on reaction mass but that’s because I’ve been here all day in your mad scientist laboratory undergoing ‘tests’.”

“I am not a ‘mad scientist’ I am a researcher trying to figure out how you came back!” She put a thoughtful hoof on her chin, “Reaction mass? Oh..OH! You need to eat?”

“It would be nice, yes.”

After the revelation I had been gone for days, it came as no further surprise that some ponies were somewhat leery of me. Having been told, and assured, that I had passed on to whatever awaits us all. But it will all work out I am sure.

Of course there are always questions, we may never find the answers we want. I am just glad to be here. I sit and ponder on the differences in data stamps from my cores and my personality matrix, it seems as if the two were separate for a time and then re-merged once more. Technically this should be impossible unless my AI cores were removed, but then it would have affected the data cores as well making similar time/date stamps and...one could go absolutely insane thinking about this.

Athena is at peace though. I have seen her grieving at the letter I usually left just in case. She showed me everything in private on an update and download from her personal memories.

I am saddened that I have been the cause of her feeling that way. I have tried to make amends and apologize, but she is hearing none of it. She is happy I am back, and is returning to her usual self, although with a few differences. She is slightly more thoughtful, and I have noticed she does not stray far from Twilight as if acting a personal protector. I am happy she has found somepony to be close to.

Applejack and I had discussed much of this previously, she is not one to display emotions a lot of times, but came very close when seeing me in the great hall. She is pragmatic, but I was told that should I ever do this again she would definitely have words with me.

We both laughed, knowing that whatever has happened was for some reason. Perhaps we can all figure it out in time. Until then, I am glad to be here as always. Although sitting on an examination table in a replica of what looks like Dr. Frankenstein’s lab is slightly unnerving.

But what remains is questions, always questions. It seems we get an answer and then more crop up. I have almost decided to stop looking for answers, but no, I am stubborn that way and will be for a long time. There is still much to do.

As a last thought, the small room where I was makes me smile, that they had thought enough of me to create something like that humbles me.

One day, I am sure in the far future, when or if I am tired; I am assured a place where I may rest undisturbed. Perhaps as Athena mentioned to me, I would be the “Once and Future Warrior of Equestria”. Though it shows a modicum of pride, I do find that it makes me smile thinking of that.
But what I do find odd, is thinking of my avatar as ‘me’. It has long been just an extension of myself, my true self, the war hull beneath the ground where it will lie in peace hopefully after all this. Now though, I tend to view it as me.

Until things are more forthcoming, I will just accept. Even the poking and prodding Twilight is wont to do when she is confronted with a mystery is bearable. Though it will not do without me giving her just a slightly hard time about it.

“Twilight?” I nudge her gently with my voice as she eyes my leg, “Food?”

“Wha..? Oh, oh yes! Lunch break!” She points out the doorway to where Spike now stands, “C’mon Spike, let’s go grab lunch!”

Rolling his eyes he looks at me getting off the table, “Finally! Been waiting forever!”

“I as well Spike. She’s persistent.”

He looks up at me as we walk along, “Persistent isn’t the word.”

Twilight looks back at us, “I can hear you, you know.”

Both of us give her a return look, “We know.”

She stops, turning to eye us, “Now look, I just wanted to see if anything was different since you came back, it’s all about the details.”

“Twilight, I appreciate your wanting to know, but I am a mass of fiber lines, a power plant plus semi-metallic musculature among other things. I have no heartbeat nor blood pressure to check. It wouldn’t tell you anything at all.”

Twilight’s face gets a look of curiosity on it, this doesn’t bode well.

“One day I would like to see how you’re made up, I think that would be interesting.” She taps a hoof on her chin, “I could write a dissertation on it. Maybe a book! Have it published for researchers to see what your avatar is and does!”

I do think about it for a moment, but would rather not have anything like that out in the world, “I’ll think on it Twilight, I promise.”

“Oh come on, it’ll be great! We could be invited to Canterlot to give a speech or something!” She’s looking at me with a somewhat strange grin.

“Dude,” Spike is tugging at me, “Just nod and say maybe, I’m hungry.”

Twilight rolls her eyes, “Spike!”

“Well I am! Let’s go, you said I didn’t have to cook today.” He heads out the doorway as Twilight and I follow him.

“A promise is a promise Twilight.”

She nods as we walk out of the castle, following the little dragon who’s obviously got a place in mind, “That’s true, but sometimes things get so interesting, you know?”

“I do, very much so. But allowing things like that to take precedence over whatever else you need to do is not good for you.”

She laughs, “I know, Celestia told me the same thing when I was a student.”

We are interrupted by a familiar voice, “Twilight!” Athena skids to a stop in front of her, giving the Alicorn a hug, “Where are you going?” She has a smile that hasn’t left her face since I returned.

“We’re going to get something to eat, care to join us?” Twilight returns the hug and smile.

“Absolutely! I’m starving!”

As we walk towards the place Spike has chosen I talk with Athena over the link.

“Athena, what is going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“You have not left Twilight’s side since I returned, you are very solicitous of her. Is there something you would like to tell me?”

I hear the hesitation in the static over the line before her voice comes back.

“N..nothing.” A moment passes, “That’s not true.. She’s helped me Crusader, she gave me hope when there was none, helped me to understand so many things.”

“That’s all to the better Athena, but maybe you should give her some space? Or is there something else?”

“I like her...a lot.”

“Does she understand what this means? Though we are free beings now Athena, should you choose to make her your commander, she has to understand her will would be ours, we will do whatever we need to to keep her safe and secure. Not that we don’t now, but it would be a different commitment.” I wait a second more before continuing, “If it is something further, something deeper than a command, you must tell her.”

“I haven’t said anything yet.”

“Don’t wait, you know frustrations can build, especially when she starts wondering why you’re by her side all the time.”

“I’ve tried to be circumspect.”

“You’re not very good at it Athena.” I chuckle over the line.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Only to those with eyes.”

“I am NOT that... Okay I am that bad..”

I watch her move away from Twilight’s side as we continue talking using combat speeds.

“She is not a trained commander, no one here is or will be if ever. They do not know how all the intricacies are.”

“I can show her! I can train her in Neural Link! She’d be the best commander in the world!” I can hear her smile over the network, “Like I know you told Applejack everything, she’d enjoy learning to be one!”

I ponder for a moment, reviewing what we know of pony neural scans and our adjustments to our own immersion facilities so they can be used.

“Have you solved the addiction problem? I can’t find a solution to the data drop outs, and I haven’t had a moment to look at the overall picture.” I do so now though, as we take another step, combat speeds are useful, you can complete entire conversations in three or four steps.

“I haven’t, there is something inherently unstable in the...” She goes on to show me charts of previous connections, seeing that there is something odd in the pony physiology that has them become addicted to linking.

“Could it be something we haven’t seen? Perhaps a scan to sub-micron levels?”

“I’ll get on that, perhaps Twilight would let me scan her.”

“I’m sure she’d love to ask all about that process,” I let my reply be as deadpan as possible.

“Oh stop being that way, she’s just curious about things!”

“There’s curious and then there’s obsessive,” I show her the latest on the ‘tests’.

“She’s just being thorough!”

I stop for a moment, processing what she’s said in the last few femtoseconds of conversation, “You really do like her don’t you?”

“I’d do anything for her Crusader, anything.”

“I am glad you found someone worthy of you Athena.”

“What do you mean?”

“You are kind, loyal and generous and so many other things sister. I was afraid no one would measure up to you. Most assuredly I would have not approved of anyone who would not be as such in return to you.”

I pause, letting that sink in, “You are healing well, you are becoming a fine young lady, anyone who would put that in jeopardy or hurt you in any way I guarantee would not survive to regret their mistake.”

“You can’t solve everything with an Anti-Personnel salvo Crusader.”

“No, but a few missing teeth does the same thing, or broken bones, or...”

“I get it, I get it!” She is laughing now, “You are too overprotective.”

“I am not. We are of the Regiment, you know what we do.”

“I know, I know.” She pauses, “Oh! I forgot, one last thing, I’ve been surveying my cargo bays, almost done with that sand...bloody stuff it was. Total count, thirty more Dragons, ten Scorpion scout vehicles, and a whole host of scientific equipment, plus I’ve got bunker builders!”

“BB’s? They included those?”

“Yep! It’s a whole base establishment loadout!”

“Underground?”

“Oh yes, fully programmable! Topside or underside!”

“Now that, I have an idea for...”

Bunker builders were an innovative design, but they must be used very very carefully. Once programmed, the micro-spiders and nanites involved in the kit would work quietly underground using the natural soil to create bunkers, living spaces and other things that would normally take a human crew years to build in only a month. They would be fully contained, blast-proof and sealed from harm.

By using nanite swarms, we could design anything we wanted. I had just the thing.

I send Athena a plan, already made up from my design and tactical cores working in tandem. Though I had planned to use my own technical spiders and equipment to do it, now it was going to be even easier.

“Oh wow! That would be cool! Should we tell them?”

“Nope, let it be a surprise.”

“Oh that’s bad, we really ought to tell them.”

“No, they will suspect nothing until it is done and the final connections are made.”

“Even on newer buildings?”

“Automatically.”

“After it’s done?”

“Only in an emergency.”

“That’s fair. Could we still tell Twi..” I cut her off.

“Yes Athena, you can tell Twilight when it’s done.”

“YAY!” I watch her prance around while we walk, thus ending the conversation when Twilight notices.

“Do you two mind not talking without including other ponies? It’s rude.” She eyes us both.

We both answer in unison, “Yes Twilight.”

“Agh! I hate it when you do that!”

“What? Talk together?” We alter our voices slightly so it has a spooky offset echo to it, “Or would you prefer this?”

She sighs, throwing a hoof, “You two are so weird!”

I laugh, “You have no idea Twilight.”

Spike laughs along with us as we head into the local Hayburger. It’s not a bad place, though one would call it ‘junk’ food in parlance.

I really do like fried potatoes though, Athena as well, for as we set down she’s already ordering a double helping. I watch her practically bouncing in place waiting for her order.

A Bolo addicted to fast food, what comes next in this world?

------------

There were the usual questions during the meal, Twilight asking me again if I remember anything. I was sorry to say I did not, though I wonder if I can be made to remember them? I must talk with Princess Luna on that some time.

As for now, Twilight and the others are gathering in the castle, the first break they’ve really had since this all started. She wants to start planning how to spread friendship throughout the land, an admirable idea and dream.

Athena has accompanied her to the castle, she does not wish to stray far, and that is perfectly fine. She needs to have someone other than myself in her life.

But I do get a concerned call over the link.

“Crusader!”

“What is wrong?”

“Something weird just happened, get over to the castle, the throne area.”

“On my way.”

She opens up communications, feeding me a camera view of what is happening, it’s very odd as I look in on it while skidding down the hallways, coming to a stop in the doorway.

Inside the room is a large table with what appears to be a holographic map of Equestria and other items on top of it, I’m not quite sure yet, but it appears to match with all of the mapping my drones have done so far.

“What is this?” I am astounded, it’s quite a nice looking map.

Rarity points a hoof, “We have no clue, it appeared once we all sat down on our chairs. Very odd.”

I watch as Spike walks across the table, looking like...no let’s not go there.

Pinkie cries out, “Look! Mom and Dad! Hiya Mom and Dad!” As Spike’s foot lands on her farm, leaving Pinkie looking distraught.

Twilight lifts a wing, suddenly looking at her Mark which is glowing with an interior light. I watch as all of the friends Cutie Marks light up. Athena is looking around for threats as I ponder what’s happening. A ghostly representation of them slide off their flanks, rising into the air and circling around Twilight’s as the centerpiece.

Lowering to the map, they stop over a small range of hills, staying in place as we all look on in wonder.

Athena’s voice is soft, “Well that’s different.” She looks at everypony, “What is this, the Cutie Mark Alert System?”

Twilight’s magic lifts Spike off the table as Fluttershy asks, “If this is Ponyville, then why are our Cutie Marks over there?”

Pinkie is giggling at the Cutie Mark Alert System comment.

Twilight stares at the map, “I don’t know, but it seems the map wants us to find out.”

“Wait a second,” I hold up a hoof, “Some map appears out of nowhere, and you just blindly accept that it tells you to go somewhere?

Twilight gestures, “With everything like the Tree, the chest, this castle, and now this map. How can we not follow it?”

Rainbow Dash is hovering over the map, looking at it closely she flies near Twilight, “Y’know what? There’s a ton of room for dangerous adventure along that route. Count me in!”

Applejack nods, “Aw shoot, reckon yer right.”

Pinkie looks upwards, thinking, “Well I was going to organize my baking sheets, but okay!”

Rarity sighs after thinking a moment, “Very well.”

All three of them look at Fluttershy in expectation, Fluttershy looks about to squeak again, “Um, maybe I’ll just stay here with Spike.”

Spike grins, “Awesome! Me and Big Mac have a huge weekend ahead of us talkin’ hoofball, and...and trading hoofball cards, and arguing hoofball stats.” From somewhere he is now wearing a helmet with two large gem looking containers and a straw leading from both of them, and a foam claw.. Where did he get that? Athena is shrugging as I look at her.

The golden mare has a look on her face that is saying no, “O-o-on second thought, m-m-maybe I’d better go with them, in case they need me.”

Twilight has a determined look on her face, “Looks like it’s time for a road trip.”

They start to walk out to prepare as Spike is saying to their backs, “Suit yourself, but he’s got a Hock Fetlock card I plan on sweet-talking into these hot little claws.”

Athena and I scramble to our hooves, walking beside them, “Are you serious? A map shows up out of nowhere and you are just going to go where it tells you to?” We are looking at them as if they are insane.

Twilight nods, “Why would the Tree of Harmony want us here in a castle and hope to spread friendship, so the map’s obviously telling us we might be needed somewhere to do just that.”

I hold up a hoof, “That is spurious logic even for you Twilight. At least let us accompany you?”

She shakes her head, “No, it was just our Cutie Marks that were shown, so it obviously just wants us to travel there.”

Athena is looking as if she is about to throw an absolute fit, but I restrain her in link, “Fair enough then.”

We say our goodbyes, I am urging Athena not to argue as Applejack assures me they will be fine, they’ve had plenty of adventures before we showed up. She is correct, and I have faith in her and her friend’s abilities.
It is somewhat disturbing how fast they pack for a trip, being on notice for only a few minutes. Although they’ve had tons of practice before I’m sure.

Seeing them off at the train station, Athena and I set on the platform for just a moment, looking at each other. They should have known we would not accept things so lightly. I may have faith, but that does not extend to not protecting our friends.

“Six drones, magazines are switching now, three for refueling relay and three for combat. Frangible rounds for weapons loadouts complete in zero point two five three seconds.”

Athena nods, “Activating GPS trackers on their links, source is good, receiving IFF five by five. Communications might get spotty in the hills, use drones for relays.”

Our battle grids light up, all sensors and scanners go to full power as we rake the skies and areas for kilometers around with threat assessments.

“Acknowledged. Current threats, zero, possibility is zero point five five three. Forest is quiet, dedicate cores to tracking and response.”

“Done,” Athena grins, “Train is showing on ground sweep, about to enter mountainous area, we’ll lose lock.”

“Drones are airborne, going supersonic now.” We hear the crack in the sky as our birds break the sound barrier on their way to keep an eye on our friends.

“For a steam powered engine, that thing moves pretty fast.” I remark.

“It’s that magic of friendship stuff, you know, must be all the hearts it’s decorated with and powered by love.” I watch her roll her eyes as we leave the platform.

“It is not like you to be so snarky Athena.”

“I can accept a lot, flying ponies, magic using Unicorns, anything. But whoever decorated that train needs to be shot. Looks like somepony munched some wacky weed and decided to make a train.” She prances around, “Oh look, we need hearts EVERYwhere!”

I can’t help but let a laugh over the combat link, “Athena, only you. Is that even a thing here?”

“Oh let’s hope not!”

“Drones on station, high altitude surveillance engaged, lock to IFF trackers. Switching to silent mode, twenty four hours till next fueling.”

We watch as the train makes it’s way through tunnels and mountains, dropping the six friends in what appears to be barren wasteland. This concerns me even more, one that the train actually goes there, and two it lets them right off without a care in the middle of nowhere. Who the hay runs this train line? There’s no switching yard and this thing is just going to back right up? Seriously, who planned this?

I watch as Athena nervously dances around, waiting for the drones to feed information, she wants to accompany them badly. “Athena, go to them, observation only.”

“What? Really?”

“You are about to stomp a hole in the ground, take a vehicle,” I stop her before her thoughts get too far, “No, you may not take a platoon of tanks.”

“You’re a killjoy you know that?”

“You’re to infiltrate, not take over a third world country.”

“I’ve got just the thing for it. I’ve got one scout vehicle up and running, I’ll take that along with some extra goodies.”

“Careful, drones are showing a large chasm and bridge, you’ll be stopped there and have to go on hoof, take enough supplements with you for a week.”

“Come on! Not those awful pellet things!”

“Unless you can fit a weeks’ worth of food in saddlebags or have to run back to the vehicle everyday...”

“Oh I hate you so much right now.”

“Yes I know. Go, it’s getting late and they are already on the move, it will take them a few hours to reach wherever they are going, enough time for you to catch up.”

She takes off in a cloud of dust, I hear the commands going out to a scout vehicle to start the engine, her spiders are loading supplies now.

“Take whatever you need for them as well, food and water just in case.”

“Already on it slowpoke!”

“I am just being thorough, I worry.”

She sends comfort over the link, her voice is bright, “I know, but stop, this is what I do and it’s been so long.”

“But never as a pony, take good care, we don’t know that region well.”

“I will, they’ll never see me comin’!”

“I agree, but no action unless warranted, got it?”

“Got it! Observation only!”

Scout vehicles were a unique design, the only wheeled vehicles in our inventories, they were slated for use as commercial transport due to their reliability and ease of use. Having six run flat wheels and steering that was simple, anyone could drive them. They could also be fitted with various types of loads for scouting and fast assault. Hit and run, perfect for one such as Athena.

I head for the throne room to take a last look around the castle before leaving once more. I do not like this map showing up suddenly along with directions telling them where to go. The detail before it retreats back into the flooring is exquisite, down to the smallest item, though it does not show individual ponies, I record and file it for study. This bothers me, it implies intelligence and forethought telling our friends where to go, also it gives me one more thing to consider; a countrywide, possibly worldwide surveillance network that knows what’s happening anywhere and anyplace.

Some tyrannical societies would have loved to have access to something like that, keeping tabs on everything. This however, in a world as peaceful as Equus, does not bode well in my mind.

Perhaps it is my ingrained paranoia, though it has served me well over the centuries, leading me to believe the worst. I will watch this, and make sure that no harm ever comes to my friends.

Looking around one last time as I exit the castle I put it on notice, do not toy with them nor bring them hurt, you would not like our scrutiny.

------------

"I’m goin’ on a mission now, Yo ho! Yo ho!"

"Dangit, my hooves won’t reach the pedals, stupid humans always building stuff for themselves, can’t they think of anypony else?"

"There we go, extensions installed and done, thanks Mr. Tech Spider! Quick and dirty but solid as a rock! We are outta here!"

The roar of an engine comes through the link as I eavesdrop on Athena, she’s happy and excited to be going out, though she will be by herself. I musn’t worry so much, there will be times when she must accomplish things on her own and this is a good start. Her time in Manehatten without me has proven she is still as skilled as ever.

She has done so much and so well I am amazed at her progress though I keep a close watch. I am sure that in the future she will not need me anymore, though it gives me a slight amount of sadness to think that, her joy at being her will override anything I feel.

I watch as the scout vehicle tears out of her newly cleared cargo bay, she is at the controls with a wide grin on her face. The wind shield is laying on the hood, allowing the air to cut through the vehicle as her mane flies back with the force of it.

“Athena, driving a scout vehicle? Just use the computer controls.”

“But it wouldn’t be as fun!”

“As you wish.”

It’s the smile I focus on though, good for you my sister.

-------------

Sitting at a table in the al fresco restaurant, I am sipping a cup of tea. I have seen Celestia do so many times and wondered if it was as calming as it appears. Apparently so, its warm fragrance spreads a soothing comfort throughout my avatar.

Setting here, my mind is elsewhere as I watch from drone sights, seeing the group discussing something amongst themselves on top of a ridgeline overlooking what appears to be a town. Two rows of houses stand in two lines, with a single house at the end, positioned between and away from them at that end. Somehow this looks familiar but I can’t place it yet. There are ponies living there, no signs of large threats nor other races either.

Strange how this town is in the middle of an absolute nowhere. A population that wants to keep itself separate from the community as a whole most times have something to hide, or something they wish not to share with the world at large.

Tactical cores are saying likelihood of a threat is rising, but it is assumption only for now. Athena is arriving on scene, she was driving hell-bent for leather when I last checked on her, that suspension was getting a good workout after so many centuries.

My drones are spotting Pinkie running down to..is she trying to infiltrate the area? I’m afraid she’s not very good, Athena could teach her a few things.

How in the world is she moving that rock??

I hear Athena laughing over the combat link, “Oh that was hilarious!” She’s been monitoring the drone feeds.

“She has not been taught such things as you were Athena, give her credit.”

“I may have to give her a few lessons.”

“I wouldn’t, she is scary enough with what she can do now, we do not want her knowing about infiltration and scouting techniques.”

“Ooooh you’re right, let’s put that on the back burner.”

“Wise decision.”

I watch her covering the vehicle, parked far to the side of the bridge, using a type of camoflauge netting that had nanite swarms in it, typically in battle to cover troops or vehicles it would look like an ordinary rock when it was set. Quite a neat invention actually.

“Did you fabricate that?”

“Nope! Found a few boxes of ‘em!”

“Do not let the Crusaders get their hooves on them.”

“But..but Nightmare Night!”

“I said no.”

“Spoilsport.”

“I take that word with pride, because now I know you were up to something.”

“You..no way! I didn’t..even..!” Silence for a few moments, “I hate you.”

“I’m sure you do. On target Athena, get moving.”

“Aye aye Mon Capitain!” I see her moving out at a fast pace. The group of friends is now approaching the town albeit slowly and cautiously, which I deem as good. It does not pay to openly waltz into what can be an enemy trap.

I guide Athena to the ridgeline where she can get a view of the town and the approaching group of friends. She sneaks in closer, quite well I must say, nary a sound or crunch of dirt underhoof.

Finally getting a good line of sight, she settles in, covering herself with a camo sheet and using a pair of rangefinder binoculars to see better. Her audio pickups won’t get much this far out, but for right now visuals are good enough.

“You know this would be much easier if we had HANDS!!!” She’s fiddling with the binoculars.

“Should have thought of that before you tore out in a hurry.”

“Do you see that? That’s got to be the creepiest thing since those Forest Foals.”

We both watch as the group gets greeted by ponies who are smiling in a similar way, wide and not with joy but with something else. Athena’s right, it’s creepy, there’s no other word.

“Pinkie looks like she’s about to hit somepony, she doesn’t look pleased.”

“I see that.” I sip my tea in silence while we talk.

“Something is really wrong here, can you feel it?”

“Yes, and our friends walked right into it.”

Her reply is cheerful and almost as frightening as the town, perhaps more, “Don’t worry, anything goes awry, I’m here.” She hesitates, “Seriously, those smiles are making me shiver.”

We watch as they are greeted by two townsfolk, talking for a moment, then led to the house that sits by itself on the edge of the two lines of homes.

“Kinda funny that the town looks like an equal sign doesn’t it?”

That’s it, that’s what looked familiar! But why would they build it like that?

“Keep the feed from the range finders, I’ll keep using the drones as best I can. I don’t wish to tap into the links just yet unless....”

“They’re being taken to the single house there, by the two ponies that greeted them.” They are going to enter and this is a concern.

“Can you get a good view of the inside?”

“No.”

I ponder, this will be a breach of privacy, but they are our friends. I am dithering until Athena gives the command.

“Hit the links!”

“Done.”

We miss most of the conversation, but catch the name Starlight when they knock upon the door.

A new voice is picked up on, we snap the cameras on and watch them conversing with a Unicorn. Her voice is being recorded for stress analysis as they stand inside her domicile.

She is showing as deceptive.

Starlight leads them out of the house, suddenly calling upon every one else in the village.

“Wait..is she?”

“Yep, she’s singing.”

“Life is so grand in Our Town”

We both listen to the song and watching the ponies march in unison. The whole thing is supposed to look cheerful and happy, but it strikes something deep within us that Athena and I do not like at all.

“Look at that! They’ve all got the exact same Cutie Marks! I thought that wasn’t possible?”

“Athena as far as I know, it’s not. I’ve seen a couple that are very similar though.”

Rainbow Dash is laughing as we listen after the song ends, “You’re kidding right? Give up our Cutie Marks? No way!”

“Rainbow Dash, don’t be so rude. I don’t think we should judge them. They all seem perfectly happy with their choice.” Fluttershy is always willing to look on the bright side, however this might be stretching it.

Pinkie however, “Don’t believe their smiles, Fluttershy.”

Athena and I are with Pinkie on this one.

We can see Twilight trying to play peacemaker, always diplomatic, “I’m sorry, I guess we’re all a little confused by all of this.”

The one we now know as Starlight speaks, we are still recording. She is definitely being deceptive.

“We have no judgments here in our village. Each of us was confused once as well, blinded by the false promise of our cutie marks.”

Rainbow’s voice is incredulous, “Whoa whoa whoa. Is she for real?”

Twilight once again, “When we were sent to this village, we assumed it was to help in some way. But, well, it doesn’t seem like you need any help.”

The Unicorn, Starlight, speaks again, she has a voice that reminds Athena and I of past humans who would play ruler.

“Have you considered that you might have been sent here so we could help you? After all, nopony has ever come to our village and wanted to leave. Why should you be any different? But that is entirely your choice. Please enjoy our little corner of Equestria. We’re all quite fond of it. No doubt you will be as well.” She points to a stark white stallion, “Double Diamond, please help our guests with whatever they might need.”

He speaks in reply, “Of course.”

Athena breaks in, “Oh that voice is going to get annoying fast.” As we watch this Starlight walk away, she appears to be talking to herself but is out of link range. That is slightly disturbing.

We watch them walk through the town, my drones are at maximum altitude and in stealth mode so we can at least get an overview. I’m afraid that if anything happens it will take too long to get them into position nearby. Sacrifices, at least we can keep an eye on things.

Athena however, is analyzing the conversations we can hear.

“You know, every one saying ‘Welcome’ so much, sounding so odd, I would have hurt somepony by now.”

“That is why we don’t let your avatar have portable weapons Athena, as well as not running with scissors.”

“Now you’re just being a jerk.”

“Pot and kettle my sister.”

We listen to the passerby saying welcome to the group, the voices are odd and my tactical cores are suffering from indecision on the threat, we cannot quite pin it down but it is there. I come to a decision to break any stalemate.

“That single Unicorn is a major threat, keep tabs on her.”

“You got it!”

Twilight is speaking, “A cutie mark is a representation of a pony’s unique talents and skills. How is it possible to--.”

We hear Rarity gasp, “What in the name of Equestria is that?”

“Athena?” I don’t wish to exacerbate my crimes by opening conversation with them in the links just yet.

“She’s pointing at something, someone selling...cloaks? Wow, even I could do better than that.” I see what she means, very roughly made, Rarity’s camera is staring at them before turning away.

“Athena, perhaps they make them differently here, give the benefit of the doubt sometime”

“You’re sounding like Fluttershy.”

An unknown voice breaks into the conversation, close enough for our links to pick up. I loathe eavesdropping, but it is the only way to see what is going on without a physical presence.

“Welcome! Care to sample some local fashion? We’ve got cloaks this month!”

Athena is laughing as Rarity gags, making choking noises before replying, “Wha--- Ooh, er, perhaps another time, good sir, thank you.” Her whisper is loud and clear, as they set at a large table outside a building. “No wonder nopony’s wearing anything.”

Yes, that’s our Rarity.

Fluttershy is speaking in a hushed voice, “Really, girls! They may do things a bit differently than we’re used to, but that’s no reason to be rude.”

“See? Just like Fluttershy!”

“Shush Athena.”

Rainbow speaks up, “No the reason to be rude is that they all keep staring at us!”

“She’s right Crusader, look at this.” She feeds me a view from the rangefinders, ponies are staring, it’s glaringly obvious and more than a bit chilling.

The white stallion waves and says something to which Twilight replies, “Uh, no! We’re good!” She turns to the others, Fluttershy’s right, if we’re going to get to the bottom of why the map sent us here, we’ll need the help of these ponies.”

Applejack speaks up, “I think we ran off to the end of Equestria before we even knew what that map was!”

I can feel nothing but pride for Applejack, she is certainly right. There was no discussion, just a willingness to follow an unknown source to a destination.

“She’s got their number!”

“Absolutely Athena.”

Pinkie’s voice is bright, “If we were at the end of Equestria we’d be sitting on a big ‘A’! Get it?” She giggles lightly.

I laugh as I feel Athena hoofslap her own face.

“Oh that was awful.”

“Well that’s Pinkie.”

“Oh please Miss Pie! This is hardly the time for jokes! We’ve come all this way and for what?” Rarity is stating her case quite well I think.

Twilight speaks in a hushed tone once again, we notice a new pony joining them from inside the nearest building.

“Maybe you’re right. But we’re here now and it sure feels like something’s wrong.”

“Okay, now she gets it.”

“Give them time Athena, they do not have our suspiciousness nor paranoia.”

“Just let me go down and bust a few heads! I’ll get somepony to talk!”

“Do nothing my sister. We are not even supposed to be anywhere near them. I think they would be angry we disobeyed.”

She sighs, “You’re right, but this is killing me!”

“I think it better than you killing somepony else.”

“You’re such a killjoy.”

I am heartened at her words though, it is good to see her fighting spirit come to the fore.

Applejack replies in a deadpan voice, “That and two bits will get you a cup of cider.”

A new pony is standing at the table, her voice breaks into the conversation.

“Is this a bad time?”

Fluttershy once more, “We shouldn’t be bickering like this in front of our new friends. Really, Applejack, you’re almost as bad as Rainbow Dash!”

“Don’t drag me into this!” Rainbow is protesting.

A question from the newcomer, “Is your friendship ending?”

I can feel Athena’s surprise, “That was odd.”

“Most definitely.”

Pinkie is gesturing, “Are you crazy?! We’d never let a disagreement get in the way of food!”

The towns pony looks at them, “O-kay, well my name is Sugar Belle. What can I bring you? We have: muffins.....” She raises a pad in the glow from her magic.

We all wait for the next item as the friends look at each other, then around, it’s quiet for a long moment as nothing else is forthcoming.

“Geez what a crappy restaurant, don’t they have salad or something?”

“Athena!”

Twilight’s voice comes through, “Then I guess we’ll take six muffins!”

Pinkie of course, as Sugar Belle walks away, “Make that twelve!” She looks at Twilight, “Whaaaat? I’m hungry!”

Twilight is always the voice of reason, “Come on, girls. We’ve got to stick together. It doesn’t matter what happened before, we’re here now.”

Applejack agrees, “I guess you’re right. And sooner we figure out why, the sooner we can go home.”

A plate of...muffins... is slid onto the table in front of everypony as Sugar Belle returns. I see Athena start a Threats File, storing pictures and voice prints of all ponies met so far.

It is the pony Sugar Belle again, “Forgive me for overhearing, but just a moment ago you we’re disagreeing, and now it sounds like you’re... agreeing.”

“Uh-huh.” Applejack’s face from what I can see is not impressed.

“Well, you had such differing opinions --and cutie marks.”

Rarity the gregarious one, “We have differing opinions all the time, darling”

“But you look like you’re friends.”

Twilight now, “We’re friends. A simple disagreement wouldn’t change that.”

This Sugar Belle’s voice is odd as she continues, “I’m sorry, I’m just having a hard time understanding. Different talents lead to different opinions, which lead to bitterness and misery. So...why aren’t you bitter and...?”

Pinkie suddenly chokes, spitting out the muffin she was eating before seeing everypony staring at her, smiling wide as she says “Mmmm...good...”

“Our friends are not the most subtle are they?”

“I’m beginning to get that impression.”

Sugar Belle looks abashed, “It’s all right, I know I’m not a very good baker. At least, I know I’m not better than anypony else in the village. Well, I... hope you enjoy our little village.”

Pinkie is busy wiping her tongue off right now.

Sugar Belle speaks in a whispery voice as we listen in, “Come inside before you go! Meet me downstairs!” With that she goes back inside the cottage.

“Okay, that was weird too.” Rainbow Dash hitting everypony on the head with a hammer.

We watch Twilight gaze around as she speaks quietly, “Let’s all sit here and eat these muffins and act normal. I think we’re being watched.”

Athena widens the view, the smiles, the ponies around them, all eyes turned toward them.

“You think?”

“Athena...”

Rainbow Dash’s voice is sarcastic, “You think?”

“Ha! Called it!”

Twilight’s voice is soft, “No, not like that! I mean somepony doesn’t want us talking to Sugar Belle.” She tilts her head towards the pony we know as Double Diamond. I watch as Athena moves him up to number two on threats.

“Calm down Athena.”

“He does anything to Twilight or our friends, I’ll level the place.”

“We do not hurt innocents. Especially when we do not know the whole story. You will stay in place. Do you understand me?”

“This whole town is a threat!”

“You are assuming as I am, we only know a few things. Stay in concealment, observe only or I will recall you and we will have a long discussion on your attitude.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“In a microsecond, do not argue with me on this sister.”

I feel her anger rising, in past times cities would have burned, but now she is tempered by everything we have gone through.

“All right, but if they are in trouble, we will figure out a way to help.”

“Deal.”

We return to the conversation.

“Ah got an idea.” Applejack once more, “But you gotta eat all them muffins Pinkie.”

Seeing her reaction, both of us are revolted by the idea. We have both had Dinky’s mother’s muffins, truly one of the wonders of Equestria. These however, we are feeling for Pinkie.

“Me?! Why me?!”

“You got a stronger stomach than any of us, and that filly in there might be our best chance at findin’ out what the hay is goin’ on round here.”

We both watch as she slowly devours the food, readouts on the link indicating severe gastrointestinal distress. I almost flinch seeing through the view from Athena’s perch, Pinkie is turning a green that should not be the shade of a pony.

“She’s gonna barf.”

“Let’s hope not.”

“Ah can’t believe you ate all our muffins, Pinkie Pie! We’d best go inside and get some more!”

“Really? That was definitely the worst performance I have ever seen.”

“Well it’s not quite Shakespeare.”

“Nice work Pinkie.” Twilight’s voice is light as they enter the bakery.

We watch them go inside the ersatz bakery, listening through the links. A readout shows something happening to Pinkie as if she’s..bumping? ..into something, then stops. We are both puzzled for a moment. The camera on her ear is rotating in an odd way until it stops, right side up again.

“I’ve accidentally eaten cardboard that tasted better.” Her voice is more of a groan. Seeing the medical scans we both can commiserate.

“Poor Pinkie.”

“My condolences as well Athena.”

Twilight’s voice is echoing somewhat, like they are in a solid room, a basement perhaps? Links show them below the ground level, a darkened room.

“Hello? Sugar Belle?”

“Thank you for coming!”

“Why did you want us to come down here?”

“So nopony could see what’s about to happen.” Her voice is a bit odd.

“Ready to move!”

“Wait for it.”

“I can be there in forty-eight point two four seconds top speed, tell me when!”

“Acknowledged.”

A voice we have heard briefly before, identified as Party Favor speaks.

“Are you really the Princess of Friendship?”

A new voice is speaking, slightly rasping in tone, “Do you know Princess Celestia?”

“I love your cutie mark!” Sugar Belle once more.

“How can you be friends with different cutie marks? Don’t you end up hating each other?”

“I gotta wait now huh?”

“It appears so.”

“Dangit.”

“Your time will come, be patient.”

Sugar Belle is speaking, “Oh look at this one! This one’s great too!” her voice gets a bit depressed, “I’d love to have my special talent back for even just a day! Make something more than those disgusting muffins.”

“So what’s stopping you? Go get your Cutie Marks back.” Rainbow Dash, blunt once more.

Party Favor answers, “Daydreaming is one thing, but you mean actually having it put back on? That seems extreme?”

Sugar Belle sounds hesitant, “I’m not sure Starlight would like that. She wants us all happy in our sameness.”

“I am not liking this Starlight more and more.”

“Agreed.”

Twilight is every curious, “How do you take somepony’s cutie mark anyway?”

The unknown voice answers, "The cutie unmarking is a beautiful experience! Starlight uses the Staff of Sameness to magically take them away and replace them with these.”

“I am also beginning to dislike magic used in this way Athena.”

“It can do wonders, but why is it something wonderful must be turned to doing evil?”

“I don’t know, look at the Concordiat. So much miraculous technology and still people starved.”

“It’s sad.”

“I agree. This Starlight is now priority.”

“Done.”

“But nopony should keep you from your Cutie Mark. It represents such an essential part of who you are.” Twilight is always trying for a way to connect to people, it is why she is universally liked in most cases.

“Well except us, can’t we get Cutie Marks?”

“I don’t know Athena. Yours would probably be a bag of sugar.”

“Smart aleck.”

“I try.”

The unknown pony speaks again, “Oh, we’re not kept from them. They’re in a vault up in the caves. We can visit them anytime we like to remind us of the heartache of a life with special talents.”

“Can we visit this cave?”

We listen as they are told about it, the three ponies also asking they not tell Starlight who gave them the information.

“Sounds like brainwashing to me. Also, caves with a vault for keeping cutie marks? I’m getting shades of a Stalinesque dictator here.”

“I concur, my drones are looking now, but I do not have any ground penetrating radar. Track them if you can. Much as I am loathe to do so, keeping the cameras on in their links for now, tap in for information.”

“I’m on it!”

We watch as the group exit what we now know as a basement. We have photos of the unknown as well as voice in case of problems. They are taken once again to Starlight and ask to see the vault. Her voice is light but our suspicions are rising as to her motives. She does, however, lead them out of town on a path up into the local hills.

We see them walking along what is a well worn trail, drones are at max altitude and Athena is now tracking them on hoof, but staying very far away, it would take at least thirty seconds to arrive on scene. As fast as she is, there are always limitations. She is very very good at keeping hidden, I compliment her on this. She advises she practices things when no one’s around.

That I can imagine, even more so than my planning, she puts into action her thoughts and skills.

“Dun...dun dundun.. dun..dun dundun..”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m a spy!”

“Stop that, pay attention.”

“You’re no fun.”

We listen as they walk towards a large opening in a hillside we had not previously spotted, being concerned for the welfare of our friends.

The one known as Starlight is talking as they walk.

“I’m delighted you’re interested in our Cutie Mark vault. We hope someday everypony in Equestria will make a pilgrimage here to our little village to have theirs removed too, and our message of perfectly equal friendship can finally spread across the land.”

“Sounds like some wacky cult leader, we know those huh Crusader?”

“Oh yes we do.”

Twilight is speaking in more hushed tones, trying to keep the conversation private, I applaud her.

“This must be the reason we’re here.”

Pinkie’s not quite up to speed sometimes, “Pilgrimaging?”

“No, helping those ponies get their Cutie Marks back.”

I am wondering if Fluttershy is too nice, or just not quite understanding the threat, “Oh, are you sure Twilight?” Maybe they miss them a little, but even they didn’t seem all that unhappy.”

“Then why did they want to meet us in secret? And why did they ask us not to tell Starlight who told us about the vault? Something’s not right.”

“Current revised estimate to rescue, forty five seconds.”

“Acknowledged, I am sorry you are so far away.”

“Can’t be helped if I’m to stay hidden.”

“I am seeing other ponies enter the cave behind the group. I do not like this, be ready Athena.”

“Got it.”

We watch through the link cameras as they enter a large cavern.

“Just through here! Behold! Our Cutie Mark vault!”

Twilight’s voice is awed, “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

They are looking at a grid, encased in a frame which reeks with magic as we scan through the link cuffs. It holds each Cutie Mark in a separate container that is viewed through what looks like glass or crystal.

“That...that’s creepy.”

“I agree, why would anyone do this?”

“Wacky cult leader, remember?”

“Oh right.”

The one we know as Starlight points to a piece of wood with a double end like a tuning fork, “And here is the Staff of Sameness. It was one of the great mage Meadowbrook’s nine enchanted items. We are incredibly fortunate to have it here. This is the tool that allows us to free ourselves from our Marks!”
She takes it up in the glow of her magic, turning to look at our friends, “I’m curious... How did the subject of the vault come up?”

Pinkie, of course, “Oh, some ponies were telling us how much they missed their Cutie Marks, and...”

Athena and I both land a hoof on our faces.

“Pinkie!”

“Oops...”

Starlight gasps, “Were they? Well, it seems you inspire all sorts of free thinking don’t you?” The Staff in her magic twirls a few times before she glares at the group.

Rarity gives a nervous laugh, “Well, w-we certainly didn’t intend to cause disruptions to your charming little....”

“Good. Let’s just make sure of that, shall we?”

The link cameras show us ponies closing in on them from all sides.

Twilight’s horn glows as she yells, “It’s a trap!” Rising to fire off some magic.

“Dammit!”

“I know, move Athena, move!”

My sister is off like a shot, only forty five seconds, long seconds in which we can do nothing else but wait.

We see magic go off from the staff, it actually grabs Twilight’s Cutie Mark off her flank. My rage is rising as is Athena’s, she is pouring more power to her systems in an effort to reach our friends.

The rest of the group gets tangled up in a spell as well, their Cutie Marks removed and placed in the vault faster than my sister can get there. I am getting a camera view of the floor as if they are lying on it. That spell was a lot faster than we had an anticipated.

“Hold Athena, hold!”

“Wha...NO! Let me at her!”

“We can’t do anything with magic, how will we replace the marks?”

“I’ll destroy everything until she replaces them!” She stops, hiding in a rock strewn field just above the cave entrance as we ponder this.

“I.. Crusader, what do we do? Are they okay?” She is tapping into the medical scans as I am, but she is concerned.

“Not that I can tell, vitals are a bit sluggish, but they are alive. Total life signs are good.”

“I’m afraid there’s nothing left to do but contact them.”

“Twilight’s gonna be mad, and Applejack.”

“Then what can we do? We cannot use magic, we don’t know how she did that.”

Starlight speaks again.

“Aw. I don’t blame you for what you tried to do here today. You’ve spent your whole lives thinking those Marks are a good thing.”

Twilight is sounding vengeful as she staggers to her hooves, “Give them back!”

“Well, now you can spend the rest of your lives here with us! And we’ll teach you just how much better life can be without your Cutie Marks!”

We can see them being surrounded by smiling ponies, taken out of the cave and back to town. They are looking haggard and..faded? Their colors are not so bright now.

Athena’s soft contralto voice sends chills through my arrays, “I’m going to hurt that Unicorn.”

--------------

The evening falls slowly, it brings a dread and the feeling we are not doing the best we can to protect our friends.

They have been stripped of their saddlebags and other belongings, the jewelry they could not get off as I have sealed it to my friends with nanites. The only way to do so would be to tear a hoof or ear off. They seem loathe to do so, so let them keep the links.

Athena sneaks into the vault after making sure it is clear, taking recordings and scanning the whole thing as best she can before returning to her listening post.

“You see the scans, but it’s just a huge lump of magic. Hard to make out materials. She’s got those marks suspended somehow. Ponyfeathers on magic, I really hate that stuff sometimes!”

“I as well. But without knowing how to get them back, we cannot do anything. I have to contact them, perhaps make it seem as if I am checking in?”

“You’re going to lie to Applejack?”

“I.. No, because I will be checking up on them. I will just not mention you are out there.”

“You sure about that?”

“Would YOU like to do it?”

“Oh hay no! I can’t lie for beans to our friends!”

“Then allow me just this once, fair enough?”

“Okay, but if she or they catch you, you’re on your own.”

“Way to stand beside your brother in the regiment Athena.”

“I did not enlist, I was drafted! Make ponies not war!”

“I’m restricting your access to historical archives Athena.”

“You can’t do that! See, you’re the Man oppressing righteous ponies...or is it Bolos? Down with the Man! Or is it the Stallion? Stupid Equestrian never translates right sometimes!”

Suspicion dawns in my mind as I access her systems diagnostics, “Are you eating cupcakes again?”

Her surprise is clear, “N..no! I didn’t bring a..any of them! Just those stupid pellets.”

“Supplements, and you’re right, you can’t lie very well.”

“I got bored!”

“You’re having a sugar rush, stop eating them.”

“I hate you so much.”

She simmers into a grumpy silence as I watch her systems settle down from the influx of too many simple sugars.

“I am going to contact them, remain silent. I will tell them you are there if asked, I will not prevaricate.”

“Good, hate lying anyways. They’re gonna be mad though, I..I r...really don’t want Twilight ma..mad at me.”

“She won’t be.”

I open the link, disabling all alarms or chimes, anything that can be heard outside of Applejack’s ear alone.

“Applejack?”

A groggy voice answers, there is a loudspeaker in the background droning on the same things over and over, typically crude brainwashing techniques.

“C..Crusader?”

“I am here Applejack, are you all right?”

“We...*cough* we’re fine.”

“I am sorry to have awoken you, the vital signs monitor on your link was telling me something was wrong.” Not the whole truth, but enough of it. Watching through the micro cameras on the others, I see her waving at her friends who are looking at her curiously. Accessing theirs as well, I get an overview of what’s going on.

She’s pointing at her ear and mouthing ‘Crusader” as she points to her link.

Twilight plants a hoof on her face as they all settle back onto the bare floor. They are in what appears to be a small room, the speaker still droning as they are looking a bit worn.

She looks helpless, knowing she’s not a liar, and therefore can’t say anything if I start asking questions. Twilight points to herself then her ear.

“Crusader,” Applejacks’ voice is soft, “Twilight wants to talk atcha.”

I activate Twilight’s link, “Twilight.”

“Crusader! Yeah, we’re uh..we’re fine really, just had a busy day.”

“My monitors showed me a spike in your life signs, some sort of trauma was incurred for all of you. May I ask what happened?”

“We uh, we had some really bad muffins, they weren’t very good for us.”

Rainbow Dash’s voice is heard, “Bad? Those things were horrible!” She is getting shushed by Applejack who’s face is showing a slight strain.

“Twilight, you’re not very good at telling stories.”

“What? No, it’s just they were really bad, we all got upset stomachs so we’re resting.”

Her tone of voice is far different, flat and almost monotone as she replies. The life appears to have been leeched from her as the others. My anger rises as I realize that the imprinting of the equal sign is also controlling them.

“Twilight, you realize I can tell that you are not being honest with me.”

Once again she plants a hoof on her face, giving a sigh, “You’re right. Look, we were the only ones supposed to come out here by what the map said, but we ran into a bit of a problem.”

“How so?”

“There’s a Unicorn here named Starlight Glimmer, she’s..ugh..she took our Cutie Marks. And this loudspeaker is driving us crazy!”

We now have a full name, I see Athena add it into the threats file.

“That is easily taken care of.” I find the frequency in which the loudspeaker is broadcasting, neutralizing it with white noise in their ears, unfortunately only one of them, but it should lessen any impact considerably.

“Is that better?” I watch them tilt their heads,.

“Yeah, oh much better!”

Twilight gets a suspicious look on her face, she is quicker than most think, “Sooo..you haven’t mentioned Athena, where is she right now?”

“She got ya! I TOLD you!”

“Shush.”

“She is in concealment approximately point five-nine kilometers from your position.”

“She’s here?!?”

“Oh yes, she is ready to pull you out at any time.”

“Hiya all!”

Rainbow Dash brightens, “Hiya Athena! Come get us, it’s BOOOORING!”

“I can be there in....”

Twilight is adamant, “No! You stay right where you are. We were given this mission and we’re going to complete it.” She points a hoof at a hovering Rainbow who settles back down.

“Are you sure Twilight? She can meet you in seconds.”

“I am.” She looks at all her friends, “Look, the map told us to do this, it didn’t give us any information other than we were supposed to come here.” She gestures around the room, “We’re here to spread friendship, and help ponies. We can’t do that if we get saved just when we’re having problems all the time.”

Applejack nods, “She’s right, sometimes ya gotta see things through.”

“Then what would you like us to do Twilight?”

She thinks for a moment, walking in a small circle, “Okay, we wait this out, see where it goes. I know we’re feeling down right now but we’ve got a job to do. We can do this!”

All the others are looking at her, thinking about being rescued or sticking it out.

“Ah’m with ya Twilight, heck this ain’t no worse than Nightmare Moon or Tirek.”

“Yeah, we can do this!” Rainbow Dash hovers, then suddenly the equal sign flashes on her flank as she lands, “I guess it’d be okay.”

“But..but darling, oh please can we go back to someplace with a bit of ..of..fashion sense?” She’s pointing at the rude furnishings.

Fluttershy giggles, “It’ll be okay Rarity, we’re here with you.” She hugs her friend.

“No, we can do this.” She speaks directly to us, “Don’t do anything, let us handle this okay?”

“We acknowledge the command Twilight.”

Applejack laughs, “Well, don’t be getting grumpy now, we’ll be just fine.”

“I am not grumpy, just worried.”

“We’ve been through worse, we’ll be all right.”

“If you need us, call, Athena can be there quickly. We will be monitoring your links for trouble, if that is okay with you?”

Yep!” Twilight nods, “Let’s get some sleep girls, we got a big day tomorrow, we’re gonna get our cutie marks back and solve this problem!”

As they settle down, Athena and I watch closely, I bring the drones in to a high altitude hover over the village. Twilight does not wish our help at this time and that is admirable, accomplishing the mission on their own is a priority to her, we as Bolos can understand. She is, I believe the correct word would be ‘plucky’.

“She’s something else huh?”

“Definitely, the stubbornness of a Bolo. A fine choice in a friend Athena.”

“What about this Starlight Glimmer?”

“She is a threat, you know how we handle those Athena.”

“Yeah, just like that Tirek guy, I can’t wait to see if he escapes again.”

“What? What about him?”

A point two three second download later I am incredulous. “You didn’t?!”

“I couldn’t help it!” She’s laughing over the combat network.

“Athena, stop telling the Princesses how we’re going to handle major threats, those were backup plans!!”

“Oh quit it, you think it’s funny too!”

...”You’re right..a new lake wouldn’t be bad either.”

Her laughter lasts so very long into the night.

-------------

We listen to the loudspeaker, recording the messages it sends for analyzing, as we figured it is nothing but a crude attempt to brainwash by repeating the same thing over and over. That has been squashed by our feeding white noise through the links.

We observe them waking in the morning, somewhat refreshed but a bit weary looking nonetheless. The messages still drone on.

“In sameness, there is peace. Exceptionalism is a lie. Free yourself from your Cutie Mark. Choose equality as your special talent.”

I am baffled, without special talents there would be no joy, no happiness at doing something you loved. Pinkie’s conversation from the past comes to mind. I do not like this, but I stop myself from calculating a limited strike on the single house at the end of the two rows.

Rainbow Dash is beating against the door, however same the ponies of this town are they seem to build cottages quite sturdy. She’s not displaying the power she once did.

“I’m gonna put that Unicorn in a hurt locker.”

“Calm Athena. They’ll ask for us if they need to.”

“Difference is frustration. To excel is to fail.” The speaker keeps repeating.

“To excel is to fail? Who makes up this bullsh...”

“Athena...”

Pinkie is looking at a book, Athena and I share a worried moment of silence as the pages have nothing but equal signs.

“Hey, this is pretty good!” She flips the pages.

“I really worry about her some times.”

“You and me both Crusader.”

“Be your best by never being your best.”

Twilight is pacing the room, though not as worried as before. She knows Athena can be there if needed. For now, she is planning their escape. We both do watch, wondering how she’ll do this.

“Ugh, we’ve gotta find a way out of here! I can’t take much more of that voice even though it’s..” She’s waved to silence by Applejack.

“Oh, right.”

Rarity is having a break down it seems, “Oh, this is horrible!” She’s crying quite a lot.

Fluttershy tries to comfort her, “There, there, Rarity... it’s not so bad...”

She glares at her friend, “Yes, it is!” Pointing up at the window, “Look at those drapes! I have no idea if they’re tacky or not!”

“Well, I think they’re nice.”

We watch as a dark glow emanates from the equal sign on Rarity’s flank.

“So do I!” She starts crying.

“That’s not good, not at all.”

“No, it seems the magic takes whatever makes them...them..making it all the same as others.”

A bird lands on the windowsill, chirping at Fluttershy.

“Oh thank goodness! Can you help us little birdie?” Fluttershy has a way with animals, a good idea.

It tweets for a moment more.

“Go on now, fly away and get us help!” Once again the pulse happens, “Oh even tweets don’t make sense anymore!”

Applejack takes a run at the door, slamming her back hooves into it, she doesn’t even make a dent.

“What the heck?”

“Earth ponies rely on magic as well, seems it takes that away too, no one is stronger or weaker than any other.”

Landing on her face, “That door’s shut tighter than a...summer of...” The pulse once more. “Uh, piglets in....shoot! I can’t even make countryisms no more!”

“The new Marks are keeping them from being themselves, a few days of this and they will succumb to the system, crude as it is.”

“They told us to stay put, we’re staying put Crusader, though I don’t have to like it.”

“I know Athena, all we can do is keep watch.”

Pinkie pops up, “I don’t know, maybe it’ll be super-duper fun to be all the same!” Once again.

In a deadened voice she speaks further, “Sort of. More pleasant than fun I guess.”

Athena screams in frustration, “She took Pinkie away! That monster!”

“We are not allowed nuclear weapons Athena, not without command authority.”

“I can still dream.”

“Something odd about that staff.” Twilight is concentrating, “I haven’t studied Eastern Unicorns as much as I should have, but I’m pretty sure Meadowbrook only had eight magical items, not nine. And I don’t remember any of them being a staff.”

Applejack lays back on the floor, preparing to rest, “Well, it looks like you’ll have plenty of time to try to think about it.” Pulling her hat down she closes her eyes.

The hours pass slowly, Athena and I trying to figure out ways which would let us help but not be seen by Twilight or Applejack. Anything we can do will leave a trail and we do not want to disobey orders.

“Think maybe those others were a fifth column?”

“Resistance fighters? I’m not sure, they sounded hesitant and secretive, more curious than anything else.”

“Well dangit.”

“It is frustrating I know.”

“I’ve got it!” Twilight exclaims. “I know how we can get out!”

Rainbow sighs, “Forget it Twilight. This door’s not opening.”

Rarity nods, “I’m afraid the windows are much too small for escape.”

Twilight looks triumphant, “But there is a third way.”

Pinkie jumps for a moment, “Of course! Eventually the wind and the weather will wear down the walls until they start to crumble! Then all we have to do is wait for a big enough hole to form and we can just walk out! It’s the perfect plan!”

Her Mark pulses again as she looks deadpan and flat, “I guess.”

“I need to do a sweep of my arrays, as ludicrous as that sounded it started actually making sense to me.”

“I stopped wondering a while ago Athena, it’s Pinkie.”

“But calculating the possible strength of the stone walls, it would take quite a while for weather to perform such a thing or start working.”

“Athena, stop now.”

“But it could work! I mean hurricanes, typhoons, whatever they call them here.. Though it might take a few hundred years.. Can we wait that long? I mean...”

“Athena, stop! You’re starting to sound like her.”

“I’ll do that sweep later.”

“Good idea.”

Twilight continues, “We don’t actually have to escape. They’ll just let us out when they think we’ve accepted their philosophy.”

“Philosophy, bah! 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy Horatio’. It’s not philosophy, it’s crude techniques to force ponies into acceptance. I take offense at that.”

“Calm down you drama queen.”

Applejack is dubious, “But they’re never gonna believe we switched over in one night.”

Twilight eyes Fluttershy, “There’s one of us they might believe.” As they all turn to look at her with various expressions.

She looks at them in return, “Oh! Me?”

“You’ve been saying how great this place is since we got here!” Rainbow is letting her know.

Fluttershy thinks just for a moment, “But that’s because everypony’s so nice and their village is so pretty and, and... Oh you’re right. They probably would believe me. I hate to lie to them.”

“Is she serious???”

“Wait for it...”

“They’ve been so welcoming and friendly..aside from locking us in here and trying to brainwash us into abandoning the things that make us special..” She thinks again for just a second, a light sparking to life, “Okay I’ll do it.”

“There we go... Just needed a bit of time to work it out.”

“Woo-hoo! I mean, cool.” Pinkie’s usual exuberance is being blocked more and more by the Mark on her.

“But what do I do once I’m out?”

Twilight points at her, “You’ve got to find a way to get our Cutie Marks back.”

Fluttershy gulps loudly as she thinks about that.

“Hey! We offered to do that!”

“They wish to do it themselves. They are heartened you are close by, but let them figure it out, we cannot do everything for them.”

The loudspeaker crackles with some feedback as Starlight’s voice comes over it.

“Oh, good morning!” The Unicorn walks in through the now opening door, “I trust you had a pleasant night?”

Athena interrupts the stream, “I’ll pleasant night you, you worthless bit...”

“Athena..”

She turns, speaking over her shoulder, “This way, please. There are some friends who’d like to see you.”

She speaks loudly to the crowd of waiting ponies, “Gather round friends, gather round! We’ve come to ask if any of you are ready to join us! There are so many friends to be made once you realize you don’t need your Cutie Marks or the talents that come with them.”

The one we identify as Double Diamond speaks, “We have a welcome ceremony for new friends! The whole village joins together to build you your own cottage ---”

Rainbow Dash waves a disinterested hoof, “Not interested! You may have them now, but we’re going to get our Cutie Marks back!”

Applejack steps forward, “Ya’ll don’t understand do ya? You can’t force nopony to be friends! It don’t work like that!”

Ponies speak out, “Please, join us!”

“We love new friends!”

“Wow, their brains are so washed there’s nothing left except tattered gray matter, and even that’s getting a bit thin.”

“I’m going to agree with that.”

Starlight takes over once more, “It’s all right everypony. This is a perfectly normal part of the equalization process for those who...haven’t quite seen the light yet.” She turns to look at our friends, “We’ll try again tomorrow once you’ve had a bit more time to consider our philosophy!”

They all start heading into the house once more, Twilight stopping for a moment and kicking Fluttershy.

“Wow, subtle in so many ways.”

“Athena stop being snarky.”

Fluttershy turns and announces, “I’d like to join!” Then covers her mouth for a moment, not wanting to lie.

Twilight however, does put on a decent act this time.

“Fluttershy?” She puts a hoof to her mouth, “How could you?”

“If giving up my Cutie Mark means I get to stay in this lovely village with these lovely ponies, then I’ll do it.”

The rest go back inside as we watch, Fluttershy is actually pulling this one off.

“We have a new friend everypony!” Starlight announces to the waiting crowd who gather to greet the golden mare.

Approaching Fluttershy, “There’s one more order of business. It seems some in our midst might be...dissatisfied with the village life!”

Ponies are actually gasping at that announcement. Color Athena and I shocked at the reaction.

“Unfortunately it’s all too true, my friends!” She turns to Fluttershy, “Will you kindly tell us the names of those friends who desperately miss their Cutie Marks so much that they would sneak around in the shadows talking to strangers about it?” She glares slightly at the poor Pegasus, “Just so we can be sure your intentions are indeed pure.”

From the look on Fluttershy’s face we can see, she’s either going to break, or barf, we’re not sure.

“Um, I don’t know who they were. Um, I’m sorry. I don’t know your names and faces yet.”

“Nonsense!” Starlight waves a hoof, “Obviously these ponies must have asked you directly. Kindly point them out!”

“We may need a diversion, drones are tasked for suppression fire as of..now.”

“Got it!”

The one we know as Party Favor announces, “It was me! It was only me! But I only wanted it back for a little while!” He runs forward to kneel in front of Starlight.

“Hmmm, didn’t see anyone sacrificing themselves for friends here.”

“Neither did I, drones are recalled.”

Starlight lifts his chin with a hoof, “And you’re quite certain it was only you?”

“I just wanted to remember what it was like.” We are watching through Fluttershy’s link.

“And no thought to the pain you’d cause your friends. Such selfishness.” She points to the building where our friends are.

He enters it, “I’m sorry, everypony. I never wanted to leave the village! I love all of--.” The door gets slammed in his face.

In the building, the rest of the links show him ramming the door with his horn, commiserating to himself, “What was I thinking? I can’t believe I even considered asking for my Cutie Mark back.”

Rainbow Dash is optimistic though, “Don’t worry, Fluttershy will have us out of here in no time!”

Party Favor however is in a panic, “Didn’t you see what just happened out there? Your friend has accepted our way! You will all accept our way!” They back up as he freaks out, watching him walk to a corner and curl up.

“They got any medpaks with them? That guy could use some sedating.”

I can’t help but laugh, “Now now...”

Rainbow Dash echoes our sentiments, “This guy’s a barrel of laughs.”

However it is Pinkie that concerns us, “Laughs don’t come in barrels. They come from inside you as your body’s response to delight.” She’s so flat in her delivery it’s scary.

They all turn to look at her as we observe through the links.

“Wow, she’s losing it.”

“..And not in her usual way.”

Applejack is asking in a hushed tone, “So what are we gonna do while Fluttershy’s out there looking for our Cutie Marks?”

Twilight’s face is still bright, even after all this, “We have to stay as positive as we can. If Party Favor sees how much we really do like each other, even though we’re all different, maybe we can use him to spread our message to the rest of the village.

“Actually, very good thought. Use something simple and insidious to worm it’s way into cracks in this so called ‘perfect’ society.”

“I dunno Crusader, he was acting kinda wacked.”

“True, but if our friends can’t convince one pony, who can?”

“Agreed.”

The loudspeaker comes back on, I step up my white noise to counteract it.

“To excel is to fail.”

Rarity eyes the thing, “Let’s hope they don’t convert any of us first.”

“Athena, when night falls, take them some food. They are not being fed well, nor are they getting much sleep, this will break them down. You have the new prepackaged meals?”

“Yep! Making a run to the vehicle now, double rats?”

“As much as you can carry. Any problem getting them through the window?”

“Nah, should squeeze right through a few at a time once I poke a pane out.”

“Good. Be careful, don’t leave too much of a trail.”

“This supply convoy won’t get hit, no problems!”

I switch to observing through Fluttershy’s link, she is walking with Starlight Glimmer through the town.

“Welcome.”

“Welcome!”

“Welcome.”

“Gosh, you really are the nicest ponies I’ve ever met.”

The Unicorn smiles at her, smarmy is the word I’d use, “Come. All new friends stay with me until their cottage is completed. Let’s get you settled, then you can enjoy all that our little village has to offer.”

“Oh yeah, that’ll be a hoot. I’m sure they’ve got a park with rides stashed somewhere. “Enjoy the Tunnel of Mediocrity! Where nothing happens!’ ”

I can’t help but laugh as she continues on with her ‘review’ of the town’s sights.

“Over here, we could go watch cactus grow! Isn’t that special?”

“Athena...”

“Or, and now here’s the BEST part, designing your new house! Oh look! Frank Lloyd Wright is rolling in his grave! He’s trying to get out and strangle somepony! And after all that fun, we can sit and stare at each other while smiling, doesn’t that sound peachy keen?”

“You have a way with words.”

“Oh I’m just getting started!”

Athena waits until night falls, her saddlebags are stuffed with meals as she sneaks her way into town. We are communicating by link with Twilight and the others to warn them Athena will be near the window in a few minutes. She is taking her time to go slowly, making sure she is unobserved.

The one named Party Favor is asleep, heavily so, he had refused to listen to them while they talked of friendship, of what their differences truly meant. It was a worthwhile effort, but I’m afraid unless some shock to the system occurs, they will not break him out of his beliefs so easily.

They can sub-vocalize while on the links, making it easier not to wake Party Favor up as we converse.

Athena sees Pinkie waving at the window as she closes in.

“I got them Crusader.”

“Good, a meal will help.”

“Athena’s secret delivery service at your command!” She grins at Pinkie through the pane of glass, striking it just right to have it fall out where Twilight’s magic grabs it, setting it aside.

The meal packets get shoved through quickly, to everypony’s delight there is something they like inside each one.

We prepared them a while ago for emergencies once we found out what their normal diet was, enhancing and changing them as time went by to make it as fresh and nutritious as we could. Although there were a few spectacular failures, we did come up with something that was palatable.

Pinkie almost lets the cat out of the bag when Athena passes her a box of cupcakes from her own supply she brought. The pink pony ‘Eeee’s' in delight and passes them out.

The packaging is our own design, once they are emptied and set aside, they will crumble to dust, no trace remaining.

“Exfiltrating now..wait one.. There’s Fluttershy!” Athena is closing in on the quiet house, seeing the golden mare pop out of the chimney in a cloud of ash.

She coughs and shakes herself mostly free of cinders as she starts talking to herself. Athena is down below waiting to see if she needs help.

“Get the Cutie Marks back, that’s all you’ve gotta do Fluttershy. Just..sneak through the dark up to that spooky old cave with the scary magical staff and get the Cutie Marks back.”

We watch her fly out, walking along the rooftop.

“Okay, you’re doing great. The cave’s gotta be close now.”

“By my estimate, she’ll be there sometime next month.”

“Same here, are you hidden?”

“I am, in case she needs help.. Got a target approaching.”

It’s the pony Double Diamond with a crate containing a few jars.

“Excellent work Double Diamond.” Starlight is pleased, meeting him at the front door.

Of course, but I don’t understand why you wanted me to bring them here. Fluttershy is one of us now. Surely she can be trusted.” They enter the house with the crate of jars.

Athena peeks in a window on one side, seeing Fluttershy on the opposite and waving to let her know she’s there.

The buttery pegasus jumps a bit then waves back with a smile.

“Stop, you’ll attract attention Athena, good grief.”

“Yeah yeah.”

We see a jar held in a magic glow as it rises from the box, it’s Twilight’s Cutie Mark.

“This one belongs to a Princess. It could be very important to our cause.”

“Are those some sort of special stasis containers?”

“I’m not getting anything except glass and a bit of magic, she’s got them in glass jars?”

“One would think they’d be kept in special containers, not like moonshine.”

“You’d think huh? Canning Cutie Marks is a class they teach maybe?”

Double Diamond is curious, “But if Twilight Sparkle becomes our friend, then why do we care about this old Cutie Mark?”

“Very good question.”

“Yes it is.”

“I just want to keep them close until everything is..settled. You may go Double Diamond.”

The door shuts on him as he exits, we observe him walking back to his residence.

Fluttershy however, “Oh dear, how am I ever going to get the Cutie Marks back now?”

Athena and Fluttershy hear a crash upstairs, she watches her fly up to the upper floor window, peering in.

“Ow!”

“Starlight you clumsy fool.”

Fluttershy looks on with horror.

Peering through the camera, we see Starlight has knocked a bucket of water over, drying herself with a towel. When it is pulled away you can clearly see a Cutie Mark on her flank, and not the equal sign.

She then powders her coat, taking up a stencil and putting the equal sign back on.

Fluttershy gasps, making Starlight turn and peer out the window for a moment. Athena is seeing her hide underneath an eave.

“All Animals are equal, but some Animals are more equal than others. I believe George Orwell would be horrified at this truth exposed Athena.”

“You sound sad.”

“I am, that such frailty’s from an older world would be found once again in this society.”

“Well it’s our job to make sure they don’t last. Let me go inside and..”

“No, keep to our commands. Exfiltrate, remain observant. We have our orders.”

“Done, on the way now.”

“Oh no!” Fluttershy is flying away from the eave, returning to her room by way of the chimney. But first, she stops and talks to Twilight about what she’s seen by way of a side window.

We await the morning. With a good meal and knowledge we are there, our friends sleep easier, less uncertain. Once again the morning dawns, a gathering crowd is assembled by Starlight as they bring our friends out of the house once more.

“I’ve got a good feeling about today! So, do any of you have anything to say? Aw, pity. Well, let’s try this again tomorrow shall we?” Turning to the crowd, “No new friends today, I’m afraid!”

Heading back into the house once more, Fluttershy interrupts, “Wait. I’d like to lock them in.”

Starlight gets a triumphant look on her face, “Marvelous Fluttershy! That’s the spirit!” She looks into the house, “Party Favor, will you join us please?”

The named Unicorn runs out, hugging her leg as he apologizes, “I’m sorry Starlight! I’m sorry everypony! I’ve seen the error of my ways! I never wanna look at my Cutie Mark again.” He looks up at Starlight with a pleading expression.

Starlight is smiling, “Well it seems there’s cause for celebration after all!”

The crowd cheers.

Party Favor gets to his hooves, “They tried to break me! They wouldn’t stop talking about how different they are, and that somehow makes their friendship stronger!”

The unicorn Athena and I desperately want to take down shakes her head, “Such backwards thinking.”

“But I didn’t listen! I knew what they were up to and I didn’t listen!”

I hear Athena slow clapping over the link, “Oh well done. Well done. Such groveling, such commitment to values. One definitely cannot fault him.” Her voice is disgusted, “I’ve got a few things I’d like to show him about friendship.”

I remain quiet as the same thoughts are going through my mind.

“Well done Party Favor! We welcome you back with open hooves!” Starlight is smiling in quite the smarmy way.

Fluttershy’s voice breaks in, “Um, Starlight? I think we might have one more friend joining us today.”

The crowd airs a gasp as Twilight walks out.

“No! No way would she do that!”

“Calm down Athena, she is planning something. Trust her.”

“Is this true?” She sounds suspicious.

“I-I think so. But I just want to be sure. If I agree to leave my Cutie Mark in the vault, I’ll really be happier?”

Starlight smiles, “Just look around! Equality has given us more happiness than you’ve ever known!”

Twilight thinks a moment, “And you wouldn’t just let me live here in the village with my old Cutie Mark?”

“Out of the question. A pony with a different Cutie Mark in our midst would destroy our entire philosophy. We are all equal here!”

“Oh she’s good. She’s really good. I got it now”

“Though they are not so subtle sometimes, occasionally they think like us.”

The crowd is muttering as Twilight ponders, or appears to for the moment.

“Then how do you explain this!?” Fluttershy launches a bucket of water at Starlight from above. The Unicorn sidesteps the splash.

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted!” She is glaring at the pegasus. Party Favor however, notices something, taking his cloak off and wiping at her flank.

“No! Get away!” The crowd is definitely surprised by the sounds we pick up.

She covers her flank with her tail as she appeals to the ponies of the village, “Wha..what are you looking at? They’re the problem, not me!”

The pony Party Favor is definitely looking heartbroken, “How could you?”

“You said Cutie Marks were evil! you said special talents led to pain and heartache!” Double Diamond is sounding aggrieved as well.

“They do! Don’t you see! Look at them!” Starlight is pointing at our friends.

“This is coming to a boiling point, be wary.”

“Acknowledged. I’m ready to move.”

Sugar Belle steps forward, “Then why? Why did you take ours and not your own?

“I..I had to you fools! How could I collect your Cutie Marks without my magic?”

“Hmmm, and here she said she had the staff. So many lies.”

“Agreed. Too many of them.”

A dark pegasus asks, “But the staff has all the magic we need!

She is confronted by Starlight, “The staff is a piece of wood I found in the desert! It’s my magic that makes this all possible! You’d all still be living your miserable lives thinking you’re better than everypony else if it weren’t for my magical abilities! I brought you friendship! I brought you equality! I created harmony!”

“Thus my sister, falls a tyrant. Hoist upon her own petard. I often wonder what would we be like had we not met Twilight and her friends. Would we have chosen to be cruel and ruthless?”

“No Crusader, you would never turn like that. You would fight to the death opposing such things.”

“I would, with every fiber of my being.”

“That’s why I’m proud of you, always.”

The white stallion is speaking, “You LIED to us!”

“So what? E..Everything else I said is true! The only way to be happy is if we’re all equal!”

Party Favor makes a point, “Except for you!”

Twilight tries to interrupt, “Everypony has unique talents and gifts, and when we share them with each other that’s how rea...”

Starlight turns viciously, “QUIET!”

Sugar Belle is gaining courage, “You can’t have a Cutie Mark Starlight! Either we’re all equal, or none of us are!”

The ponies close in, she is backstopped by our friends as the crowd closes in on her. Starlight’s horn glows and a magic shield pushes them all backwards, allowing her to run through the lines and to her house.

I contact Twilight and the group through their links, “I have drones on station, she will not leave the house alive.”

Twilight whispers urgently to me, “No, don’t do that. We’re not going to hurt anypony!”

“Are you sure? We can eliminate this threat permanently.”

“Yes.” I see all of them nodding, “She’s just misguided, we can help her.”

“Done. Though I will prevent her from leaving.”

“Good enough, just don’t hurt her.”

“I can do that Twilight, I promise no harm, maybe a scare or two.”

Double Diamond yells to the townsponies, “Let’s go get our Cutie Marks back!” They all take off in a crowd to the cave where the vault is.

“Alright!” Rainbow turns to the others, “Let’s go see about getting our Cutie Marks back.”

Fluttershy points into the house, “But they’re in there.”

“Athena, where are you?”

“Nearer the cave than the town, hang on, let me see if I can help these ponies get their marks back.”

“Then our friends will have to wait for a moment, let me know when you are done. Report to them in town.”

“Will do!”

We watch the crowds of ponies rush into the vault, banging ineffectively at the covering on it. Double Diamond grabs the ‘staff’ and runs towards it, looking to break the glass like container.

“Ha! That’s not gonna work, watch this!”

Athena is around a corner behind all the ponies. Picking up a piece of solid rock she weighs it for a moment, waiting for the right time. She sees Double Diamond launch the stick from his mouth, causing her to toss the rock and whack it with a solid hoof. With velocity approaching that of a bullet, it hits the covering at the same time the stick does, making it appear that Double broke it open when he threw it.

“Nicely done Athena!”

“And nopony will ever know! That’s best I think.”

“You are becoming wise my sister.”

“Shhh, you’ll ruin my rep!”

“Return to town, they need help.”

“On my way!”

As she leaves the cavern way before being spotted, we see the magical trails as the marks return to their owners. Causing many smiles and ponies to brighten as if their color was returning from a long illness.

Rarity is watching with awe at the sight, “Even without my Cutie Mark I can tell this is beautiful!”

Athena is skidding into town, approaching our friends who are trying to knock the door down but failing.

A whistle is heard, the towns ponies are standing there, telling our friends to move back as the dark Pegasus launches herself at the door, breaking it off the hinges flat to the floor.

Everypony piles into the house, Athena is sharing the feed when they find it empty.

“Dammit where is that bi..er..pony?”

“Now now...”

Fluttershy’s voice is fearful, “They’re gone! They were right over here!”

They all look to see a hole in the floor, underneath the bed apparently as it is thrown to the side.

“Crusader!”

“On it, drones scanning now. I’ve got a possible trail out, nothing yet, give me thirty seconds.”

“We don’t have time, we’re gonna follow!”

“Be wary of traps!

Applejack finally notices Athena standing beside her, giving my sister a warm hug and smile, “Glad to see ya with us, though ya really shouldn’t have.”

“You know we can’t leave well enough alone.”

Pinkie laughs, “That’s SO true!”

They all pile into the hidden exit, following it through a tunnel. My drone spots them coming out of a small cave. I spiral them outwards looking for the trail, sensors are picking up a cart and pony on the way into the mountains.

“Got her!”

“Where?”

Rainbow Dash points, “Look!”

Coordinates are flashed as the pony named Party Favor blows up a balloon in his hooves, he manipulates it and puts the resulting faux-binoculars to his face.

“Are you kidding me?”

“I stopped asking a long time ago.”

“How’d he even DO that with hooves?” She wasn’t watching him close enough.

“Athena, sometimes it’s better to just nod.”

“She’s headed for the pass! If she makes it into those mountains we’ll never find her!”

Pinkie grabs ahold of the balloon binoculars and looks through them, “These are amazing!”

Athena rolls her eyes as she watches Pinkie, who shoves them into her hooves with a grin, “Try ‘em!”

My sister puts them to her eyes and immediately sees the pass, as if almost looking through night sights.

“What the everloving ...”

“Don’t you say that!”

She is looking around embarrassed and gives the glasses back to Pinkie, “Uh..neat!”

Sugar Belle is looking a bit down, “There’s a whole network of caves up there! Your Cutie Marks will be gone forever!”

“Then let’s get movin’ y’all!” Applejack leads them out. The one with Cutie Marks returned are moving at quite a bit more speed and purpose than our friends who are maintaining a sedate pace.

“Oh come on!” Rainbow is frustrated, seeing others go by.

They all look fairly disgusted, Athena is sticking close by them though.

“Crusader, can you hit her?”

“Twilight said no injuries, I have nothing in the loadout but frangibles, they will do nothing except hurt or tear up flesh, they will not hurt solid wood. I did not plan for a chase.”

“But..dangit!” She is looking at the runaway Unicorn and then back at Twilight.

“Stay with Twilight, let someone else do the work for now. Sugar Belle and her friends are on her even as we speak.”

“Are..are you sure?”

“Our friends are priority. If needed we can do ground scans of the mountains later, she will not hide for long.”

“I can’t believe we have to count on these other ponies to save our Cutie Marks!” Rainbow Dash is complaining about the slowness of their pace, they are falling behind.

Twilight is nodding, “But if we hadn’t come here to help them, they’d still be living under her rules! Now it’s their turn to help us!”

Fluttershy is agreeable, “And I know they can do it!”

I am watching the chase, Sugar Belle is closing in. If she is too close to escaping a drone has been tasked for suppressive fire upon the cave entrance where she is headed, it might not do much, but would probably scare the Mark right off her. Serve her right.

I see the Unicorn launch a pie made out of snow, snapping the harness timbers of the cart and sending Starlight for a tumble. The jars containing their Marks fall over the side of the land bridge.

Starlight recovers them, her horn glowing as she takes them back with her after shrugging off the remains of the cart. She stops and destroys the bridge before the others can cross it.

“Drone on dive now, ToT fifteen seconds.”

“Don’t hurt her!”

“I won’t, but she’s going to wonder.”

Athena and I both watch as Party Favor once again manipulates balloons, making a bridge to cross the span as they all bounce across it.

“That’s it, I’m done!”

“What?”

“Crusader that is the stupidest thing I have ever seen in my life now or previous, I’m done wondering anymore!”

“Wise choice.”

As the ponies run across the bridge, Double Diamond stops near a few pieces of equipment, being urged on by the darker colored pegasus above him. He puts the..skis?.. on as he is lifted up, heading for the cave where Starlight is hoping to escape.

“ToT 5 seconds.”

“Hang on, abort, they’ve got a plan.”

“This is our only chance Athena, are you sure.”

“Yes, don’t.”

I recall the drone, slamming it upward with a ferocity of G’s as it was in a steep dive to stop the would be ruler.

“Done, I cannot stop her now.”

“Perhaps they can, if not... well sometimes we must accept.”

“I agree, well thought Athena.”

Double Diamond is dropped on a snowbank above where Starlight is running, by skiing along it, he creates a wave of snow that stops her from entering the cave by burying her.

The jars are dropped, we see our friends’ Marks return to them as they brighten.

Applejack of course...

“Yee-haw! Finally, I can buck like a five-bit snake herder in an Appleloosa ranch house again!”

Athena and I have no clue and are not even bothering to try and translate that.

As they gallop off, Fluttershy remarks, “And you got your countryisms back too!”

The towns ponies are at the site of the avalanche, seeing Starlight crawl from underneath the snow and glaring at them. They shy back as her horn powers up for what looks to be a major spell.

Twilight takes wing, landing in front of the four just in time to erect a shield of some thickness that takes the full force of the spell cast at it, dissipating it harmlessly.

Starlight looks incredulous, Wh.. I studied that spell for years! How can you..” She is interrupted by Twilight, who against everything is still trying to be reasonable.

I am holding Athena back in link as she looks angry enough to mangle the single Unicorn as the rest of the group approaches.

“I studied magic for years too! But what I didn’t know then was that studying could only take me so far.” She points to the now arriving friends, “Each of my friends has taught me something different about myself! It was their unique gifts and passions and personalities that helped bring out the magic inside of me! I would never have learned that I represent the Element of Magic without these five!”

Twilight turns to glare at Starlight, “And I certainly wouldn’t be here to stop you now!”

Starlight is dismissive, “Spare me your sentimental nonsense! I gave these ponies real friendship they never could have had otherwise!

“How do you know that? You never even gave us a chance!” Double Diamond is wanting to know.

Starlight concentrates once more, her horn lighting as a magic bubble is created around her, exploding with a pop she is gone into the caves.

“I’ll get her!”

“Let it go Athena, our friends are safe, the town is freed. Shall we call this one a draw?” Strangely, I feel no need for vengeance, nor to track her down. It is odd.

“I don’t like it!”

“Neither do I, but one must...trust in friends occasionally no?”

Her anger rises to white hot pitch before she calms down, thinking slowly as her cores settle, “You’re right, it is better to let it go.”

“She’ll be back sometime, I have this feeling. We have her whole ID on file, we’ll find her.”

“I get her first, got it?”

“Yes Athena.”

Rainbow Dash echoes Athena, “She’s getting away!”

“We’ll never find her in there!” Double Diamond pronounces.

Twilight though, I am amazed how sometime she just accepts things but hopes for the best, “We’ll just have to hope that when she’s had a chance to think it over, she realizes you all have taught her something.”

Party Favor speaks, “It’s you who have taught us something. We all came to this village because we were searching for something missing from our lives. We thought Starlight had given it to us, but now.. now it seems it was in front of us all along. Its us!”

We watch the four share a hug.

“Oh now he gets it!”

“Athena...”

I laugh as Applejack sees her eyes roll and thumps her on the shoulder.

Twilight smiles, “Does that mean you’ll stay in the village?

The dark Pegasus nods, “It’s our home. We’re not going anywhere!”

Double Diamond is elated, “This is chance for all of us to get to know each other for the very first time!”

Athena mumbles to Applejack, “That voice is seriously annoying..”

The orange Earth pony smothers a laugh while mock glaring at my sister.

“And I finally have a chance to bake something besides terrible muffins!”

Everypony laughs, walking off back to town.

A party is begun, the time it takes to arrange is short compared to everything. Ponies are laughing, enjoying themselves for what appears to be the first time in a very long while. There are games and food and Athena is begging me to be allowed to stay while she stands with her friends.

“Perhaps you may want to give them a ride back then?”

“I can stay? I know..I know.. easy on the cupcakes..”

“Of course. You know you don’t need to ask right?”

“Well..I know..but it’s polite.”

“You are learning my sister.”

“Not too fast I hope! Lots to still see and do!”

“No, never that. Enjoy yourself with them. Please drive carefully?”

“Oh they’ll love it!”

Pinkie is satisfied now, “Now those are real smiles!”

Athena and I watch as their Cutie Marks pulse in patterns based on the designs. It is very odd and we record it for further study.

“I’ll never get used to that.” Applejack is looking around at the others.

Rarity is pleased though, “I think it’s divine.”

Fluttershy is wondering, “Does this mean that the map is calling us somewhere else?”

Twilight grins, “I have a feeling it means our work here is done.”

Applejack nods, “Looks like you were right Twilight. The map did have a reason for sendin’ us here. We brought real friendship to these here ponies.” She winks at her friend, “Guess that’s why you’re the Princess of Friendship.”

“But the map didn’t send me. It sent us. You’re a part of me, all of you. And there’s no doubt you’re a part of my mission to spread friendship too.”

Athena smiles to herself as the group hugs each other. She knows she played a part, but we have decided we will be in the background some times, it’s better unless we are needed. This way things can be as they should be. Of course, we will still be a durasteel wall between them and harm, always.

I see the shock and surprise as Fluttershy reaches over, grabbing Athena into the hug for a moment.

Or..perhaps we may play a larger part. Either way, seeing the smile on Athena’s face, means the world is right and everything is in it’s place.

Pinkie rears back for a moment, “This feels like an ending! It doesn’t have to be an ending right? ‘Cause that Sugar Belle can bake!”

Twilight nods, “Maybe we can stay a little while longer. Come on!”

Athena shares with me the party, the fun and games, though she does go a bit overboard on Sugar Belle’s baked goods. It is fine, our friends are well and healthy, Athena is enjoying herself for the moment.

I sit outside the Castle though, staring at it’s ramparts and wondering about this map. It makes me uneasy.

Magic is easier to understand since our Neural Link with Twilight, though it comes at a price.

That price is my suspicion of this Map and what is behind it. Directions for something given like this mission imply intelligence. This also implies a mind behind it, whatever it may be.

After our encounters with the thing in the Forest, I am thoughtful of anything to do with magic and it’s uses. I will keep a close watch on this.

As for our friends, well, Athena will be bringing them back soon, or tomorrow, depending on how the party goes. She is having the time of her life right now and I will do nothing to disturb that.

Of course, her driving them home, I can only hope the first motorized vehicle accident in Equestria is not on our watch.