Starlight nervously walked out of the cave behind Rainbow Dash, her ears flattened down. Sure, she knew that she had more magic than all of them, which Rainbow herself had said. But Rainbow knew a lot about her, and she was positive that she wouldn't tell anypony about herself for no reason.
Plus, considering what she did to a Princess, it was probably illegal in some way. And if she ran away, she could be considered a threat and then being hiding from the Royal Guard, other ponies, and the Princesses. Not running was a far safer idea, even if it was a bit nerve-wracking.
"You're back!" cried Pinkie happily.
"And you found Starlight!" said Twilight with a smile.
Starlight took a step back as Sugar Belle, Night Glider, Double Diamond, and Party Favor all threw a glare at her. Rainbow defensively threw a wing out in front of Starlight, which happened to be the one with her metal encasement, and looked back at Starlight. She realized that Rainbow wanted her to apologize to the other ponies, which they probably did deserve. Rainbow lowered her wing, and Starlight stepped towards them.
"I'm sorry for taking away your cutie marks." said Starlight, nervously pushing her hoof around on the ground. "I just wanted everypony to happy, and not be able to be friends with other ponies just because of their cutie mark." she paused. "It's just that when I was younger, my best friend moved away because he got his cutie mark, and I thought that it was unfair. And... I'm just sorry for what I did."
Sugar Belle smiled first, and walked up to Starlight.
"You just wanted us all to be friends, huh?" she asked, with no spite. "That's actually really nice of you, Starlight. Even if you didn't go about in the best way."
"Th-thanks, Sugar Belle." said Starlight, surprised by her kindness.
"Huh, I guess you were always trying to do the best for us." said Night Glider.
"If anything, I think we're the ones who should be sorry." said Double Diamond. "We shouldn't have gotten so angry at you for trying to do something right."
"Thanks, everypony." said Starlight, a small smile on her face. "Just... Thanks for letting me have your forgiveness."
Back in the village, Starlight had apologized to the other ponies, who had also forgiven her. Granted, that didn't mean that they were all perfect friends, but nopony particularly hated Starlight. Distaste for what she did at most. The villagers had actually set a party to celebrate them truly meeting for the first time: with their cutie marks and not equal symbols.
Rainbow let out a breath of relief as she grabbed a vanilla cupcake. She had been worrying about Starlight for so long, that it was nice to just relax. She looked around at all the happy ponies, and smiled with satisfaction. Applejack and Sugar Belle were talking about homemade recipes; Pinkie Pie and Party Favor were playing around with several balloons, with their creations becoming more and more complicated; Fluttershy was talking with the few foals about animals, and Spike was also with them; and Rarity was talking with Double Diamond about something fashion related. Twilight and Starlight had gone off to clean up the destroyed cutie vault.
"Hey, Princess Rainbow!" said Night Glider, landing next to Rainbow.
"You don't need to add the 'Princess' part." said Rainbow, taking a bite out of her cupcake. "You enjoying having your cutie mark back?"
"Yep! I just wanted to thank you for helping us out here! If you guys hadn't showed up, we still would have those equal signs!"
"It's no problem." Rainbow looked up to see Twilight and Starlight walking back from the vault. "So are all of you going to stay here?"
"Probably. I mean, we have lived here for a while and stuff."
Night Glider flew off as Twilight walked up to Rainbow. She noticed that Starlight wasn't with her anymore, and took another bite out of her cupcake.
"Well, Rainbow, we finished cleaning up the cave and threw out the staff." said Twilight, grabbing a cup of punch with her magic. "So we've finished everything we need to do."
"Nice." said Rainbow, finishing off her cupcake. "So... We should probably make sure we catch the train, huh?"
"Yes, we should leave soon."
"Yeah... Can you go tell the others? I want to go talk with Starlight before we go."
Twilight nodded, and Rainbow flew off to find Starlight. She flew up above the village, but didn't see Starlight anywhere. She decided to go check Starlight's cottage, and peeked her head in through the door frame (they still needed to put the door back up from Night Glider breaking it down).
"Starlight?" she called.
"In here!" called Starlight from her room.
Rainbow flew upstairs and into Starlight's room. She was holding several items in her magic, and there were a pair of saddlebags lying on her bed.
"Hey, Starlight." said Rainbow. "What are you doing?"
"Just packing my things." said Starlight, putting several bits in the saddlebag.
"You're leaving the village?"
"Yep."
"But why?"
"I just don't really feel like I belong anymore. It's not anypony's fault or anything, but I just don't feel like staying here. Where is it that you live?"
"Ponyville."
"Guess I'll go there!"
"Wait, what?" asked Rainbow in surprise.
"Well, where better to go than the place where the pony who knows me best live?" Starlight turned towards Rainbow with a nervous look on her face. "Er, unless you'd rather not see me again after all the trouble I've caused for you..."
"What? No, of course you can come to Ponyville!" Rainbow smiled. "That would be great!"
"You're sure? You don't hold a grudge or anything?"
"Of course not! Starlight, I completely and totally forgive you!"
"Really?"
"Absolutely!"
Starlight smiled, and continued packing. Rainbow was so happy, that the thought of Shadow slipped right out of her mind.