//------------------------------// // Locked & Running Away // Story: The Second Pony to Become an Alicorn // by Razor Blade the Unicron //------------------------------// Rainbow sat in the corner of the tiny cottage, as "helpful" advice on how to "become equal" flooded out of the speakers endlessly. Her friends were pacing around the room, except for Spike, who was asleep. Her cheeks were wet with tears, and still more were pouring out. "It's all my fault that Starlight took our cutie marks..." said Rainbow. "I should of had a better plan. I should have know that she would be able to do it to Spike. After all, it's not a cutie mark removing spell, it's a magic limiter. The cutie marks just get taken away so the magic can be limited more easily. But I thought it was okay, and now I don't know what to do!" "Rainbow, it's okay." said Fluttershy, walking over to comfort her friend. "We'll find a way out of here, and we'll get Starlight to see the right path while we're at it." "But none of the townponies are going to help us, so the only way out is to pretend that we've decided to 'become equal' and give up on our old lives entirely!" "We could try that." said Twilight. "One of us could pretend to join in Starlight's philosophy and then get our cutie marks back! Then we can show the ponies that cutie marks don't force you away from other ponies, but brings you closer together!" "Who could we send out?" asked Rainbow. "Clearly Starlight wouldn't believe that I want to join in with her after one day!" "What about Pinkie?" asked Rarity. "She was saying how nice it was to see everypony so happy." "Are you crazy?" cried Pinkie, jumping into the air, but then landing with a dull look. "No, you're not crazy. That would be a bad thing." "Well, Ah definitely wouldn't be able ta." said Applejack. "Ah'm an awful liar." "Their smiles are still too creepy..." said Fluttershy. "So Pinkie, you seem like the best option!" said Twilight, turning towards her. "Do you think you can find our cutie marks and fool Starlight?" "Erm..." Pinkie paused to think. "I hope I can fool her..." "I just hope Starlight doesn't get to upset..." said Rainbow nervously. "Then she might run off..." "There's only one way to know..." said Twilight. "Good morning, everypony! And dragon!" said Starlight with a large smile. "Does anyone want to join our village today? 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." "We have a welcome ceremony for new friends!" said a pony in the crowd. "The whole village joins together to build you your own cottage." "Not interested!" snapped Rainbow, her temper getting to her. "Y’all don’t understand, do you?" asked Applejack. "You can’t force nopony to be friends. It don’t work like that." "Please! Join us!" called another pony in the crowd. "We love new friends!" "It’s all right, everypony!' called Starlight. "This is a perfectly normal part of the equalization process for those who haven’t quite seen the light yet. We’ll try again tomorrow," she turned towards Rainbow and the others, "Once you’ve had a bit more time to consider our philosophy." The seven turned to go back in, when Pinkie sprung forward on cue. "I'd like to join!" she said with a smile. "Lots of friends, and everypony is happy sounds great to me!" "Pinkie?!?" cried the six others in mock surprise. Starlight's grin grew, and she shut the door behind Rainbow as she crossed over the threshold "We have a new friend, everypony!" called Starlight, turning back towards Pinkie. "Although, I would like to ask you something so you could prove that you're intentions are pure." "Okay!" said Pinkie, her smile widening. "Who told you about our Cutie Vault? Because it's not exactly something we should just tell anypony! You never know if they're going to be awful and break the vault open, releasing everypony's awful cutie marks!" "I don't know. They never told me their name." "Oh, then just point them out! We may be equal, but do look a little bit different!" Pinkie did everything she possibly could to prevent her smile from fading away. She could instantly see the pony in the crowd, but didn't want to point her out. But she had no choice, so- "It was me!" called out the pink unicorn suddenly. "Sugar Belle?" asked Starlight. The pink unicorn walked forward, her head down. "I'm sorry, Starlight!" said Sugar Belle. "I shouldn't have told strangers about the Vault. I'll spend the day in the Equalization Cottage so I can win back all of your trust!" "Very good!" said Starlight, shutting the door tightly as Sugar Belle walked in. "What was I thinking?" cried Sugar Belle as soon as she entered. "I shouldn't have told you about the Cutie Vault, and now-" "Just calm down." interrupted Twilight. "Pinkie is going to return our cutie marks and then you-" "She's converted to our way! Soon you all will! There is no hope!" Sugar Belle collapsed onto the ground, and everyone backed away from her nervously. "I really hope Pinkie hurries..." whispered Fluttershy. Pinkie held her smile as Starlight closed the door to her room, but dropped it as soon as she left. Apparently all new ponies stayed with Starlight until their cottage was complete. That make sneaking out much more difficult. But by Celestia, she was Pinkamina Diane Pie! She was going to get back their cutie marks no matter what! Pinkie glanced around the room, and saw that the chimney was empty. A real smile formed on her face. Moments later, Pinkie popped out of the chimney, covered in soot. She jumped up onto the roof, and shook her coat and mane out. Now, all she needed to do was to get to the Cutie Vault and- "Thank you for bringing them, Double Diamond!" came Starlight's voice from the ground. Pinkie quickly looked over from th edge of the roof, and saw Starlight unload seven jars from the cart Double Diamond was pulling, and brought them inside. Pinkie realized that the jars must be holding their cutie marks, and her face fell. How am I going to get our cutie marks back now? she thought. I can't just swipe them out from right under Starlight's nose! Think, Pinkie, think! What did Dashie tell you about Starlight that might help? Pinkie sat up as she remembered so very useful information, and then dove back down the chimney into her room. We're gonna get our marks back! she thought. I just hope that Starlight doesn't run off... "Good morning!" sang Starlight as Rainbow and the others stepped outside. "Has anyone decided to join us today?" Sugar Belle sprinted outside to Starlight, and looked up at her with a pleading look. "Starlight, I'm so sorry!" she cried. "Can you forgive me?" "Of course!" said Starlight with a smile. "Also long as you've learned your lesson!" "I have! I really have!" Starlight's smile grew, and she turned back towards Rainbow and the others. "Anyone else? No? Guess we won't have any new friends today!" "Hey!" piped up Pinkie suddenly. "Can I lock them in?" Starlight paused, but then nodded. "Now that's the spirit, Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie walked up to the door, and she and Rainbow caught each other's eyes. Pinkie flicked her eyes towards outside, and Rainbow made a barely noticeable nod. "Wait!" cried Pinkie. "We might have somepony new joining us today!" The crowd gasped as Rainbow stepped outside. Starlight stepped forward, a look of disbelief on her face. "Is this true?" asked Starlight. "I have a question." said Rainbow. "Would I be allowed to stay with my cutie mark?" "Of course not! That would destroy our entire philosophy!" Pinkie looked at Rainbow, who caught her eye. The look in Pinkie's eyes said, Dashie, I'm sorry if this makes everything worse, but Rainbow simply nodded. She had no ideas on what to do. Pinkie suddenly ran up to Starlight, licked her hoof, and then swiped it across Starlight's cutie mark. In this action, she wiped away a majority of the makeup covering Starlight's real cutie mark, causing all of the townponies to gasp. "Wh-what are you looking at?" cried Starlight, trying to block her cutie mark from view. "You said cutie marks were evil!" cried Double Diamond, "You said special talents led to pain and heartache!" "They do!" "Then why didn't you take away your cutie mark, too?" asked Sugar Belle. "I had to, you fools! How could I collect your cutie marks without my magic?" "The staff has all the magic we need!" yelled Night Glider. "The Staff is a piece of wood I found in the desert! It’s my magic that makes all this 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!" "You lied to us!" yelled Double Diamond. "So what?" Starlight smiled nervously. "E-Everything else I said is true. The only way to be happy is if we’re all equal!" "Except for you!" The townponies all took a step towards Starlight, but Rainbow suddenly flew in front of Starlight to block them. "That's enough!" yelled Rainbow, surprising everyone. "I may not believe in Starlight's philosophy, but she at least had the right idea to not tell you about her cutie mark! See what just happened after you found out?" "But she lied to all of us and took away your cutie marks!" cried Night Glider. "How can you be defending her?" "You're just trying to trick me!" snapped Starlight, causing Rainbow to turn around in shock. "What?!?" Starlight's horn suddenly lit up light blue, and created a hemispherical force field, expanding it suddenly to shove everypony back. As soon as the barrier collapsed, she dashed off towards her house, slamming the door behind her. Not missing a beat, Rainbow flew after Starlight, as one of the townponies cried out for them to go get their cutie marks. "Starlight Glimmer!" cried Rainbow, trying to open the door. "Starlight!" The others quickly ran over to Rainbow, and attempted to open the door. "I'm sorry, Dashie." said Pinkie. "I know you didn't want this to happen..." "That doesn't matter right now!" said Rainbow. "I can't let Starlight run away and then try and get revenge! I won't let her make the same mistakes!" At that moment, an explosion of light came out of the cave where the Cutie Vault was kept, distracting the seven of them. "That's absolutely beautiful!" cried Rarity. "The cutie marks were released!" said Rainbow with a smile. "Now we can-" "Starlight has our cutie marks!" yelled Pinkie. "WHAT?!?" cried the six others. At that moment, Night Glider flew back over, and Rainbow looked up at her. "Break the door down!" she cried. "Starlight had our cutie marks and we can't let her get away!" "On it!" said Night Glider, diving down and smashing the door open. Everyone ran inside, but Rainbow instantly sprinted into Starlight's room. The others quickly followed her, to see that there was an escape tunnel under Starlight's bed. Rainbow zipped down into the tunnel, her horn glowing red to provide light. Night Glider, Sugar Belle, Double Diamond, and some other pony Rainbow didn't know ran past her, as they weren't constricted by the equal cutie marks. "Don't worry!" yelled Sugar Belle. "We'll catch her! We'll back your cutie marks!" Rainbow simply nodded, and continued running, her friends following her. The tunnel seemed so long. They finally exited, just in time to seven glowing beams zip backs towards them. "Our cutie marks!" cried Twilight happily, as their cutie marks were returned to them. "I need to get to Starlight!" said Rainbow. "Sorry guys, you have to catch up!" Rainbow quickly flew towards where she saw Starlight off in the distance, now being able to fly at her her full speed. Starlight's horn was glowing, and she was aiming it at the four ponies who had gone to get Rainbow and her friend's cutie marks back. Rainbow landed in front of them just in time to throw up a shield spell, which blocked Starlight's spell. "Hey!" yelled Starlight. Rainbow dropped the shield, and looked at Starlight. Starlight glared furiously at Rainbow, who just looked worried. "Starlight, don't run away." said Rainbow. "Revenge isn't the way." "Shut up!" yelled Starlight. "And don't try to push some stupid friendship stuff on me!" Starlight's horn flared, again, and there was a flash of white light. Rainbow shielded her eyes, and the light faded away. Starlight was sprinting away into the cave next to her. "We'll never find her in there!" said Night Glider. "NO!" yelled Rainbow, shocking everypony around her. "I won't let Starlight go down this path! I promised!" Rainbow quickly ran into the cave after Starlight, ignoring everypony's calls to her. Starlight Glimmer, you aren't going to make the same mistakes! thought Rainbow, as the cave became darker and darker.