The Second Pony to Become an Alicorn

by Razor Blade the Unicron


Same Smiles and Cutie Marks

"Welcome!" called a dark blue pegasus as they walked up to the village, an unnerving smile plastered on her face.
"Where's Starlight Glimmer?" asked Rainbow instantly. "I need to talk with her."
"You... You know Starlight?" the pony's smile faded away in surprise.
"Not exactly, but I need to speak with her."
"Well, uh, she's in her house right now. If you'll follow me, I can bring you to her!" the smile returned.
Rainbow nodded, and turned back towards the rest of the group.
"You guys can hang out here while I talk with her." said Rainbow. "You know, just in case something happens."
Everybody nodded in response to Rainbow, and the dark blue pegasi looked at the group in confusion. Rainbow turned back to her, and nodded.
"Okay, I'm ready to go talk with Starlight."
"Just this way!"
The dark blue pegasus flew towards the isolated cottage, and Rainbow followed her. She didn't even bat an eye as everypony she passed by called out a welcome, and held their unnerving smiles.
"Starlight!" called the dark blue pegasus, knocking on the door of the cottage. "There's somepony here who wants to speak with you!"
The doorknob was enveloped in light blue magic, and the door swung open. Starlight stepped out with a smile on her face, but it wasn't as unnerving as the other ones.
"Yes?" she asked joyfully.
"Are you Starlight Glimmer?" asked Rainbow, though she knew perfectly well that she was.
"Yes, I am!" said Starlight, walking up to Rainbow. "And who are you?"
"My name's Rainbow Dash."
"Would it be correct to assume that you're Princess Rainbow Dash?" Starlight's eyes lit up.
"Yes. I need to speak with you, right now."
"Of course you can! After all-"
"In private."
Starlight paused, but then resumed speaking, "Oh. I can assume you that anything you need to say to me can be said in front of anypony else in our lovely town!"
Rainbow hesitated, before speaking, "Taking away other pony's cutie marks doesn't make up for events in the past."
Starlight froze, and her smile faded away. The dark blue pegasus looked at Starlight and Rainbow in confusion.
"Night Glider," said Starlight. "Why don't you see if Sugar Belle can make some extra muffins?"
"Uh, okay!" Night Glider flew off towards one of the cottages.
"Why don't we step inside to speak?" asked Starlight, gesturing towards her cottage.
"Sure thing." said Rainbow, making sure to keep her guard up as she walked inside.


"Hello, everypony!" said a pink unicorn, holding a notepad in her blue magic. "What can I get for you to eat? We have: muffins."
Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike all looked at each other nervously, before Pinkie spoke up.
"Six yummy muffins!" she said with a smile.
"Sure thing! I'll be right back with them!" she walked into her cottage, and out of sight.
"All of the smiles are scaring me..." whispered Fluttershy.
"Why would anypony give up their cutie mark?" whispered Twilight. "It's like giving up a part of yourself!"
"Well," said Applejack softly. "Ah reckon that if ponies feel like their cutie mark messes up somethin' in their life, then they'd wanna get rid of it so they'd feel better. And they wouldn't stand out because the other ponies all have the same cutie mark that doesn't mean anythin'."
"That's... Very plausible..." whispered Twilight. "But what if ponies don't want their cutie mark removed, but it still gets taken away?"
"Rainbow did say that's what Starlight did to our counterparts..." whispered Rarity.
"Hey, but I'm here just in case!" said Spike with a grin, "No cutie mark to remove, means to equal symbol to restrict me!"
"I'm back with your muffins!" said the pink unicorn, walking back holding a tray of muffins in her magic.
"Yes!" cried Pinkie, grabbing a muffin. "Delicious muffins, you're gonna be my snack!"
Pinkie chomped down on the muffin, and she froze. Her ears flopped down, and she placed the muffin down on the table they were sitting at.
"Is something wrong?" asked the pink unicorn.
"Uh, nope!" said Pinkie, forming a phony smile on her face.
"Okay!" she walked off.
"Pinkie, is something wrong?" asked Twilight.
"These muffins are terrible!" cried Pinkie, but quiet enough that nopony else could hear. "They're just so bleh!"
"Oh, come on!" said Spike, grabbing a muffin. "They can't be that bad!"
Spike took a bite of the muffin, and his eyes widened in disgust. He placed the remaining muffin back down on the table.
"Okay, so they are that bad." he said.
"Uuuuuuuugh..." moaned Rainbow, suddenly walking up and sitting down.
"How did it go?" asked Twilight.
"Terrible. Starlight wanted to know how I knew about her past, so I asked her if she believed in the multiverse."
"And?"
"She doesn't believe in the multiverse!" cried Rainbow, lying her head on the table. "So I don't even know what to do now! I can't just force her to stop taking cutie marks, then she won't learn anything!" tears started to form in Rainbow's eyes. "Now I won't be able to keep my promise to Starlight..."
"Rainbow, Ah'm sure I'll be fine." said Applejack. "So yer first talkin' with Starlight didn't go over quite how ya wanted it to. Just think over what yer gonna do ta try an' convince her!"
Rainbow nodded, and reached for one of the muffins, but Pinkie slapped her hoof out of the way.
"Trust me," she said. "You don't want to eat those."
"Okay..." said Rainbow, leaning away from Pinkie. "So what do we do now?"
"Um, excuse me?" asked the pink unicorn, walking back over to the table. "I was just wondering how it is that you all have different cutie marks, or none at all, but are still all friends?"
"Just having a cutie mark doesn't prevent you from making friends." said Rainbow. "It's more fun to have a group of diverse friends, anyways!"
"By the way," said Twilight. "Where are all the cutie marks kept?"
"In the Cutie Vault!" said the unicorn. "Do you want to go look at it? I'm sure Starlight would be fine with that."


"I’m delighted you’re interested in our cutie mark vault!" said Starlight with a smile. "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!"
Rainbow was glancing around to see if anypony was following them, but didn't see anyone. She had opted to fly, so she could see around better. Starlight stopped outside of a cave, and everyone else also stopped.
"Just through here!" said Starlight, gesturing into the cave.
The group entered, and Rainbow landed on the ground. Starlight proudly pointed up at the end of the cave, and Rainbow's mouth dropped open in shock. Starlight was pointing at vast grid of square compartments, a cutie mark housed in nearly every one. The entire assembly was held within a vertical frame, and topped by a blue-glowing equals sign. In front of this vault was a pedestal, on which a wooden rod was balanced.
"Behold!" said Starlight. "Our Cutie Vault!" she picked up the wooden rod in her magic. "And here is the Staff of Sameness! It was one of the great mage Meadowbrook’s nine enchanted items."
Rainbow's eyes narrowed, along with Twilight's. They both knew that Meadowbrook only had eight enchanted items, not nine.
"We are incredibly fortunate to have it here." said Starlight with a broad smile. "This is the tool that allows us to free ourselves from our marks! I’m curious. How did the subject of the vault come up?"
"I asked somepony where the cutie marks were kept." said Twilight. "And she told us that they were kept in the vault."
"Oh... Is that all?" Starlight's smile grew wider, "Well, how about we have your cutie marks in the vault, too! Wouldn't that be just lovely?"
A dozen ponies stepped out of the shadows, and encircled the group. Starlight held the staff tightly in her magic, and it began to glow brightly.
"Twilight, shield!" yelled Rainbow.
Twilight's horn glowed dark blue, and a bubble shield popped up around the seven of them. A line of light blue magic blasted out from the staff, hitting Twilight's bubble. Twilight flinched, and poured out more magic.
"Twilight," whispered Rainbow. "Starlight's going to break through. When she does, you guys run. I'll block her."
"But-" started Twilight, before the barrier was destroyed, and Starlight's magic came flying in.
The beam was aimed at Twilight, but Rainbow instantly jumped in the way, spreading out her wings so Twilight couldn't be hit. Rainbow cried out as her cutie mark was slowly pulled away, and closed her eyes in pain. Within moments, she felt her cutie mark get ripped away, and collapsed on the ground. She saw the equal sign appear on her flank, and then heard several more cries of pain. Starlight had everyone else held tightly in her magic, and was pulling away their cutie marks.
No, no, no! thought Rainbow.
Her friends collapsed onto the ground, and Rainbow's eyes widened when she saw that Spike also had an equal sign.
I-it affects Spike? thought Rainbow, Oh no, this is bad! This is really, really bad!
"Oh, I don’t blame you for what you tried to do here today." said Starlight in mock pity, "You’ve spent your whole lives thinking those marks are a good thing."
"Give them back!" yelled Rainbow, standing up.
"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!"
The ponies who had surrounded them ushered Rainbow and her friends outside, who all had equal looks of sadness and shock.
"No..." whispered Rainbow, barely audible. "No..."