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// 30: Welcome to our town 
// Story: Dawn of The Ice King 
// by KingdomBrony16 
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Several months had passed since we got back from Earth, my phone was absolutely fried due to the magical charges flowing through it and I didn’t have the forethought to get more if I ever wanted to go back. Not like that would’ve worked, as Twilight informed me. Apparently it had something to do with the magic of Equestria being strained to open a portal to a world with no active magic whatsoever and hold it open for as long as it did and any future attempt would end in failure regardless.

So with a dejected sigh I accepted my fate and we all headed back to Ponyville. Lyra and Bon Bon’s shop was completed whilst we were gone, and it looked fantastic it was a lovely 2 story building, the lower floor being where candy was sold with a backroom lab/kitchen for Bon Bon to make new candies. The upper floor is where Lyra played on her lyre and even had other musicians come in from time to time. There was also a bar located upstairs for anyone who wanted some drinks that Bon Bon was experimenting with and we determined wouldn’t kill anyone. Of course that means more ponies had to be hired on board but with the crown, me, paying them that wasn’t a problem at all and it quickly became Ponyville’s #1 hang out spot amongst the foals and adults.

I also managed to meet Pinkie’s family, her parents are very stoic but pleasant none-the-less. Her sisters on the other hand are just insane. Pinkie is the happy go lucky one, though that didn’t surprise me. Marble, the true youngest is just like Fluttershy got cloned as an earth pony. Limestone was angry, all the time, but Pinkie explained it to me, once Maud left she needed to step up and take charge and that was her way of doing so, it gets the job done and she does truly care.

Then we had the oldest, Maud, who was much like her parents, monotone, stoic, blunt and what I thought at first, emotionless but next to Pinkie she’s actually the most colorful when it comes to her emotions. It’s all in the eyes and when you knew how to read her she was an absolute riot. Honestly we got along great, even more so after her family found out I didn’t care about the curse one bit. Actually, after that even Limestone lightened up a bit. Apparently they were all afraid, since I was a prince, I would care about nobility, status and the want of passing on my bloodline, it was a pleasant surprise for them to know that wasn’t what I was about.

Speaking of the curse I brought it up with Celestia and Luna and they, in fact were approached by the Pie family a millennia ago, unfortunately just like then, they couldn’t find anything about it or who would even be able to place such a powerful curse. It was disappointing but expected so I sent a letter to Cadance and asked her if she could find anything within the Crystal Library or the Ice Dragon’s Library. Funnily enough they did and it lead us directly to our resident chaos god.


~A few months Prior~


“Discord!” I called out into the air while Pinkie and I were sitting in my living room.

The air warped, bent, and ripped open with a creature that looked like a late Picasso painting stepped through, “You rang? How strange, you tend to avoid me as much as possible.” He said with a little hum.

“That’s because I don’t like you Discord.” I said with a scowl.

“Moi? Now that must be a mistake, everyone loves me. I’m the comic relief, the lovable trickster that went from bad to the bone to having a heart of gold, why I could be the main character of my own spin off story!” He looked off to the side at nothing, “Get on it Hasbro… or if they won’t do it, all you lovely writers can do it instead.”

Pinkie giggled at his antics and just I looked at him, befuddled before shaking my head, “Look, I don’t know what you’re on about, but I don’t like you, however, that’s besides the point right now. I called you about a curse.”

That caught his attention and he pulled up a chair, as in literally pulled it up from the ground, and sat facing Pinkie and I, “Oh a curse you say, how intriguing… unfortunately I don’t dabble in curses, my kind of chaos is fun not harmful.”

I snorted, “Yeah, right, and no, we know you don’t do curses. However you are as old as this universe is if not slightly younger, and you happen to know things you shouldn’t due to your chaotic nature. And since your magic tends to break all the rules we were hoping you could help us with something, well two somethings.”

He set a cup of, what I’m assuming is tea down in mid air and gave me a serious look, “You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. What can I, the lord of Chaos do for you, Christopher, one of the few beings who can damage me physically?”

I sighed, “Discord, I need you to remove the curse put upon Pinkie’s family and tell us anything about who might have caused it.”

He raised his eyebrow and nodded, “That’s a simple request, but what’s in it for me?”

I groaned, “Of course, you’d want something in return.” I gave it some thought before Pinkie whispered something to me, “You can’t be serious? Really?” She nodded happily, “Fine, if you do this for me, I’ll hang out with you for one day, of my choosing, and give you a chance to be my friend.” I said with a hint of disgust.

“Oh, and what good would that do me?” He knew I didn’t like him, and really he loved annoying me, us being friends would take that away from him, but I could give him something even better.

“It would put you in the best standing you could be with Fluttershy. She would be beyond proud of you, especially since she knows how much I don’t like you for what you’ve done. And it would even put you in better standings with everyone else.” I said to him.

He gave it some thought, holding out his talon and giving me a wide grin, “You have a deal, my dear boy.” I shook his talon, “Now let’s see here.” He lifted his lion paw, his weird looking, plaid chaos magic surrounded Pinkie before he grunted and was sent flying back against the far wall, knocking over a side table and shaking pictures from the wall.

Now that surprised me, “Are you ok?” I asked him, though I snorted in amusement regardless.

Pinkie, however, got up and went to help the Draconequus, “I got you Dissy, are you ok?” 

He stood up and dusted himself up, “Im fine, thank you Pinkie, at least one of you actually cares.”

I shrugged at that, “So, what was that all about?”

“That, that was magical blowback from something with more magical power than even I have.” He explained.

“How? Aren’t you like, magically all powerful?”

He shook his head, “No, I’m not, chaos magic is just very versatile. Technically Alicorns are more powerful than I am, Tirek was more powerful than me. And you my dear boy, when you reach your peak well… that’s a spoiler. No, the magic and power that cursed the Pie family is older than the universe itself.”

+And your brain just shut down, one second… and fixed, we’re back online.+ Ixis said.

“Explain, older than the universe, how?”

Discord chuckled, “Christopher, you think this is the first iteration of this universe? Because, it isn’t it is in fact the 4th. There were 3 universes before this, and there are gods and powers that exist from their time and outside of the cycle all together, and those are the truly all powerful. The Pie family was cursed by one of them, how they came across one and what they did to piss one off I don’t know as they tend to stick to themselves and really never interfere. Maybe it was just bad luck, or they wanted to mess with a random pony and our friend just happened to be part of that family line.” He shrugged, clearly not knowing the answer, “Regardless, I can’t undo the curse, it will probably never be undone or there might be a stipulation, who knows, who knows.”

He then looked at Pinkie, “I’m sorry Pinkie, this is beyond my power, I wish I could help you I truly do.” He actually looked dejected, like he failed and it was his fault.

Pinkie sighed and leaned against me, “It’s ok, Discord, thank you for trying though.”

I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close against me and I looked up at Discord, a scowl adorned my face, not because of him though, “Discord.” He looked scared, I guess he assumed I was going to do something to him, I don’t blame him, considering, “Thank you, for legitimately trying.” I sighed and held out my hand, “Look, I’m sorry I’ve been harsh to you.”

“It’s fine, I understand why you were, honestly I beat myself up over it still.” He said to me, shocking me even more.

“Yeah, I can see that, let’s say we start over, not as friends, haven’t gotten there yet, but as friendly acquaintances, and we can go from there?” I said giving him a smile.

“You mean it?” I nodded, “Oh, thank you, you won’t regret this, I promise!” He said happily, shaking my hand, “Oh I have to go and tell someone, ta ta for now!” and with that he popped away.

I looked at Pinkie, “Are you ok Pinks?”

She nodded, “Of course I am, I have you, don’t I?” SHe said, looking up at me and smiling before giving me a kiss.

I returned it earnestly, “You’re right, you do. Come on, I’ll treat you to some food.”


~Back in the present~


After that the months flew by and our wedding is happening within a few weeks, really we’re all excited, it’s going to be amazing. However, today was strange I was woken up but vibrating and light, which I thought was a phone until I realized it was coming from Shy, and her cutie mark was floating above us, which caused us some concern so we got out of bed and once we did it sped off in the direction of Twilight’s Castle.

So, here we all are standing around a table that was not there, before at the center of the thrones that were there and there was even one for me now and my coat of arms, the dragon wrapped around a snowflake, was also floating above the map in a distant spot of Equestria with the rest of the girls’ cutie marks.

“Ok so what is going on now?” I asked the purple alicorn as Pinkie was crying due to Spike accidentally smashing her family’s holographic farm..

“It seems that the… Cutie Map is telling us to go to that part of Equestria.” She said, examining the table.

“Obviously Twilight, but why is it telling us to go there?” Rainbow asked, the rest of us nodding in agreement.

“I don’t know but it looks like we’re going on a road trip.”

“Am I being dragged along on a friendship mission? The heck… whatever, Spike, can you watch Goldy while we’re gone?” I asked the younger dragon.

He saluted, “Aye Aye Captain, she’ll be safe in my hands!”

We were all leaving the castle as Pinkie pouted, “Aww but I was planning on organizing my cookie sheets!”

I grabbed her arm, “Let’s go you crazy sugar mare, you can organize them when we get back.”

“Okie Dokie Lokie, BYE SPIKE!” She waved before I dragged her away.

About an hour later we were off the train at a dead end in the middle of nowhere.

“Aaaand we’re in the middle of jack and shit.” I deadpanned.

Twilight pulled out a map, “No, there looks to be a town this way, come one everyone.”

With that we were off, it wasn’t too long of a walk and eventually we found a cliff edge with a town at the bottom, composed of several houses in 2 neat rows.

“That’s it, that’s the place on the map!” Twilight said happily.

“Awesome, let’s go and get this over with.” I started walking forward before I felt a pull on my tail, looking behind me to see Twilight tugging on it with her magic.

“Wait, it could be dangerous, we don’t know who lives there.” She said, quickly.

“Dangerous? Aaaawesome!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Dangerous? Really? Twilight, you’re an Alicorn and Im a dragon, I think it’ll be ok.” I told her.

“Oh! I’ll check it out!” Pinkie volunteered before rolling down the hill.

“Be careful!” Apple Jack called after her.

Once Pinkie made it down to a safe rock we followed behind her and we got a closer look at the town, something in my gut told me this place wasn’t right.

“This is where the map sent us? It looks… really boring.” Rainbow said unimpressed.

“These just look like regular pony folk.” AJ chimed in.

Rarity was obviously upset by the look of the town, “It could use some more architectural flourish to it.” 

Fluttershy was of course, the one to give it the benefit of the doubt, “It doesn’t look so bad.”

Pinkie shook her head, “I… don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”

“Why not Pinks?” I asked her.

“I know smiles, and those aren’t right.”

“Forget the smiles, look at their cutie marks, they’re all the same. What could do that?” Twilight asked, drawing our attention to their equal sign cutie marks.

Excitedly Rainbow butted in, “I bet it’s some strange magical creature behind it!”

“What makes you say that?”

Rainbow shrugged, “I’m just hoping that’s what it is so this trip wouldn’t be a complete waste.”

“Why don’t we just go talk to them, see what’s goin on?” AJ suggested.

“That’s a better idea than any of us have had, so why not?” Twilight said in agreement.

As they were walking away Pinkie and I were still behind, “Those smiles are bad news.” She said to me.

“I know but come on, we don’t want to be left behind.” I told her, as we quickly caught up to the others. When we entered town we were greeted with a series of lifeless ‘Welcomes.’

“Normally I’d find all of this nice, but I’ll admit it is kind of strange.” Shy said, moving closer to me.

“Welcome! Pardon my forwardness, but are you an alicorn?” A light blue unicorn asked as he approached us, looking at Twilight.

“That there’s the princess of friendship!” AJ said.

“Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place for friendship.” He said with a smile.

I did not like how he said that last part. As I was getting over that problem another Pony, an Earth Pony with a white coat and white hair came up to us next, “What brings you to town?”

“We’re not entirely sure, to be truthful.” Twilight said, obviously slightly embarrassed.

“I see. Well, all are welcome in our little village. I’m Double Diamond and this is Party Favor.” He said gesturing to the light blue pony.

“Howdy Double Diamond. I’m Apple Jack, , and this here’s Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Chris, and Twilight Sparkle.” The farm pony introduced us.

“And you all have your own unique cutie marks, except for you.” He said looking at me, “Starlight would love you.”

“Starlight?” I asked, though I didn’t get a response.

“If you don’t mind, has there been any trouble here lately?” Twilight asked Double Diamond.

“Trouble? I don’t think we’ve ever had trouble in our little village.” Double diamond said, the creepy false smile adorning his face.

Party favor nodded, “It’s true, you’ll see.”

“Perhaps you would like to speak to our founder Starlight Glimmer?” Double diamond suggested as he turned to lead us to somewhere.

“Guess she’s just the town’s founder… eh.” I mumbled to myself.

“Well they seem nice?” Fluttershy said, a bit skeptical.

“I’ve got my eye on them, something is rotten in this…. Whatever the name of this village is.” Pinkie said, clearly the most skeptical of us all.

We reached a house at the far end of the rows and double diamond knocked on the door, opening it, “Starlight? We have some new visitors.”

“Be ready for a fight, we don’t know what’s going to come through that door.” Rainbow said, rearing up for a fight.

A door at the back of the house opened and out stepped a light purple unicorn with a purple main that had a lighter purple and light blue streaks running through her hair, “Welcome, I’m so pleased to have you here.” Rainbow groaned in disappointment.

“This is Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Chris, and Twilight Sparkle.” Double Diamond said, introducing us to her.

“Forgive my bluntness, but I’m assuming it’s Princess Twilight Sparkle? We don’t get many alicorns around here.” She then looked at me, “Oh and you are something wonderful all on your own.”

“That does not make me feel comfortable.” I said bluntly.

“Yes, I’m a Princess, but Twilight is just fine.” 

“So, how did you find our village?” Starlight asked.

Twilight chuckled, “It’s kind of a long story, let’s just say we found it on a map.”

Pinkie held up a hand, “Technically it was a tree chest castle map!” Her face still in the form a a skeptical scowl.

Starlight gave her a small smile, “Well, however you found us, we’re happy to have you. We’re happy to have anyone who wants to experience true friendship for the first time.”

AJ raised her brow, “Say what?”

“You see our village is unique in that aspect. Around here, we don’t flaunt our special talents because we don’t have any special talents to flaunt.” She explained.

“Is that why you all have those equal cutie marks?” I asked her.

“Perhaps it would be easier to understand if I gave you a tour of the village.” She said, a drum beat starting up.
“Oh god… here we go.” I groaned out.

We were lead back outside, “Heads high everyone, marching proud! All together now, no one left behind!” That’s when the musical number fully started up.

None of us were enjoying this, except for Shy, she was enjoying it more than the rest of us.

Rainbow laughed in disbelief after the song was finished, “You must be kidding right? Give up or cutie marks? Yeah, right.”

“Rainbow Dash! I don’t think we should judge them for their choices.” Fluttershy scolded her friend.

“Don’t be fooled by their smiles Shy.” I told her, Pinkie nodding in agreement.

“I’m sorry, I guess we’re just confused.” Twilight said, clearly excusing us.

“We have no judgements here in our in village. Each of us were confused once as well, blinded by the false promise of our cutie marks.” Starlight said understandingly.

“Woah woah woah, is she serious?” Rainbow questioned.

Twilight gave her a look, “When we were sent here, we thought we were suppose to help. However, it doesn’t seem like you need help.”

Starlight walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, “Maybe you were sent here so we could help you?” She took her hand off Twilight and walked back to the crowd, “After all anyone who’s come to our village has never wanted to leave, why should you be any different?”

My spine tingled at that and my tail started twitching uncomfortably, something about this mare wasn’t right and Ixis agreed.

“But that is entirely your choice.” Starlight continued, “Please, enjoy our little corner of Equestria. We’re all quite fond of it, no doubt you will be as well. Double Diamond, please help our guest with whatever they might need.” She turned to walk back to her house.

“Of course.” He said giving us a wide grin.

As we were lead through town Twilight was talking to herself, “A cutie mark is a representation of a pony’s unique talents and skills, how is it possible to-”

“WHAT IS THAT?!” Rarity yelled out, staring at a pony selling what looked like shoddily made cloaks.

“Rarity, don’t cause a scene.” I told her as we sat down at a table in front of what looked like a restaurant, all the buildings were pretty much the same, so it was hard to tell, “Something is up in this town, and we don’t want to draw attention to us more so than we are.”

“I agree, they may do things differently than us, but that's no reason to be rude.” Shy said.

“No, the reason to be rude is that the keep staring at us.” Rainbow said, staring pointedly at Double Diamond.

“Need something?” He asked.

Twilight waved him off, “No we’re good, thank you. Fluttershy and Chris are right, if we’re going to get to the bottom of why we’re here, we’ll need these ponies’ help.”

“I think we ran off to the end of Equestria without even knowing what that map was!” AJ said, exasperated.

“If we were at the end of Equestria we’d be sitting on a big A! Get it?” Pinkie joked with a giggle, causing me to snort.

“Oh please, Pinkie, this isn’t the time for a joke. We came all this way and for what?” Rarity asked, also getting annoyed.

Twilight huffed, “Maybe you’re right, but  some thing here feels wrong.”

“That and two bits will get you a cup of cider.” AJ said.

“Is this a bad time?” The waitress asked

“Now now girls, no need to argue in front of our new friends.” Shy said, trying to calm everyone down.

“Is your friendship ending?” The waitress asked me.

“What? No?” I told her

“Well, my name is Sugar Belle, what can I bring you? We have… Muffins.” We waited for her to keep going but she didn’t.

“Well, then I guess we’ll get 7 muffins.” Twilight said only for pinkie to interject.

“Make that fourteen!” She looked at us, “What? I’m hungry.”

“Make it twenty-one.” I told Sugar Belle, “Hey if Pinks can get seven more I’m ordering seven more.” I said with a huff.

“Come on everyone, we’ve gotta stick together, it doesn't matter what happened before; we’re here now.” Twilight said.

“I guess you’re right, and the sooner we get this over with the sooner we can go home.” AJ said as a plate of muffins was put on the table.

“That was fast.” I shrugged.

“Forgive me for overhearing, but just a moment ago you were disagreeing but now it sounds like you’re agreeing.” Sugar Belle said.

“What about it?” I asked.

“Well you had such differing opinions and cutie marks.” She tried to explain.

“We have differing opinions all the time, darling.” Rarity explained in turn.

“But you look like you’re friends.” She said, slightly confused.

“We are friends, a simple disagreement wouldn’t change that.” Twilight said.

“Honestly, do you know how many times Purple Booksmart and I go back and forth over things? All the time, and she’s still one of my closest friends.” I said to her, grabbing a muffin off the pile, as did Pinkie.

Sugar Belle looked even more confused, “I’m sorry, I’m just having a hard time understanding.” She adopted a stern look on her face, “Different talents lead to different opinions, which lead to bitterness and misery. So why aren’t you bitter and-” She was interrupted by Pinkie spitting out a bite of muffin she took.

“Peh, ugh...I mean, yum… gooooood…” She gave a weak smile.

Sugar Belle looked down with a soft smile, “It’s all right, I know I’m not a very good baker. But at least, I’m not any better than anyone else in the village.” She looked away nervously, “W-Well, I hope you enjoy our little village!” She started to head back inside before stopping and whispering to us, “Come inside before you go. Meet me downstairs.” She said before giving us a wide smile and rushing inside.

“Hooookaaayyyy, that was weird too.” Rainbow said.

“Let’s just sit here, eat these muffins and act normal. I think we’re being watched.” Twilight said, grabbing one of the lumpy muffins.

I looked around at the crowd who were all watching us intently, “No shit Sherlock, where’s Watson?”

“No, not like that. Someone here doesn’t want us talking to Sugar Belle.” She said gesturing to Double Diamond.

“Hmm I’ve got an idea, but you and Pinkie have got to eat all these muffins, Chris.” AJ said.

Pinkie sunk down below the table, “What why me too?”

“Because, you two have the strongest stomachs of any of us and that mare might be our best chance at finding out what’s going on around here.” She explained.

I waved a hand, “Pinkie doesn’t have to eat all of them, I can, trust me these taste better than some gems and rocks I’ve eaten.” I quickly devoured the plate of muffins.

“Oh you and me, need to have an eating contest when we get back home Chrissy.” Pinkie said with pure awe and jealousy burning in her eyes.

“Wow, I can’t believe you ate all our Muffins Chris, we best go inside and get some more!” AJ exclaimed in the most ‘inconspicuous’ manner ever.

We walked inside and made our way downstairs, Twilight praised me on a job well done, “Nice going, Chris.”

I shrugged, “It was to save Pinkie of another Baked Bads dilemma.”

Pinkie gave me a peck on the cheek, “I appreciate it, I’ve had cardboard that tastes better than those muffins.”

“Hello? Sugar Belle?” Twilight called out.

“Thank you for coming.” She said as she stepped out of the shadows, that creepy grin plastered on her face.

“Why did you want us to come down here?” I asked her.

“So no one could see what's about to happen.” She said as two more ponies stepped out of the shadow, one I recognized as Party Favor.

“Oh ho, ominous!” I said, actually amused by this, but also rearing up for a fight, Twilight following suit.

That was until Party Favor asked Twilight, “Are you really the Princess of Friendship?”

The pegasus mare that was with them got close and also asked, “Do you know Princess Celestia?”

Sugar Belle grabbed Pinkie’s shirt on the spot that had her cutie mark magically emblazoned on it, “I love your cutie mark!”

The pegasus then hovered above us, “How can you be friends with different cutie marks? Especially when he doesn’t have a cutie mark at all! Don’t you end up hating each other?” She asked enthusiastically.

Sugar Belle then came up to examine Fluttershy’s cutie mark, “Oh, look at this one! This one’s great too!”

That's when I stepped in, “Okay, Sugar Belle was it? Please stop touching my Fiancees without their permission and I do mean Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.”

“Oh my apologies.” She stepped back quickly before what i said dawned on her, “Wait You’re getting married and they both have different cutie marks and you don’t have one at all, how does that work?” Before I got the chance to answer she kept talking, “I’d love to have my special talent back, even for just a day…make something besides those disgusting muffins.” She said sadly, her ears folding against her head.

“So what’s stopping you?” I asked.

“Yeah, go get your cutie marks back.” Rainbow added.

They looked nervous at that and Party Favor was the one to speak up, “Daydreaming is one thing. But, you mean actually having it put back on? That seems extreme.” The irony was not lost on Rainbow Dash.

“I don’t think Starlight would like that. She wants us to be happy in our sameness.” Sugar Belle said.

Twilight stepped forward at that, “How do you take someone’s cutie mark anyway?” She asked the group.

The pegasus was next to speak, “The Cutie Unmarking is a beautiful experience. Starlight uses the staff of sameness to magically take them away and replace them with these.” She said as they showed off their equal signs

“This isn't sitting right with me. No one should keep you from your cutie mark. It represents an important part of who you ponies are!” I said, getting tired of this.

“Oh we aren’t kept from them, they’re kept in a vault in a cave up in the mountain. We can visit them any time we like to remind us of the heartache of a life with special talents.” The pegasus corrected.

“Can we visit this cave?” I asked.

They nodded and a little while later we were on our way up the mountain with Starlight Glimmer leading the way.

“I'm delighted you’re interested in our cutie mark vault. I hope that someday everyone in Equestria will make a pilgrimage here to our little village to have theirs removed too-” She kept going but I decided to tune her out.

“Chris.” Twilight whispered to me, getting my attention, along with the rest of the girls, “This must be the reason we’re here.”

Pinkie gave her a skeptical look, “Pilgrimaging?”

“No, helping those ponies get their cutie marks back.”

“Are you sure Twilight? They might have missed them a little, but they don't seem to be too unhappy.” Shy said, always trying to see the good in everything.

“Honey, while I would normally agree to give things the benefit of the doubt, my instincts have been telling me something isn’t right here since we arrived, and Ixis agrees.” I told her.

Twilight nodded, “I agree, after all why would they want to meet us in secret? And why did they ask us not to tell Starlight who told us about the vault?”

Starlight stopped in front of a cave entrance, “We’re here!” She lead us inside and the sight that greeted us was a huge crystal vault reinforced with magic with cutie marks aligned in a grid system, “Behold, our Cutie Mark Vault.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it!” Twilight said in pure disbelief.

Starlight then grabbed what looked like two tree branches twisted in the form of a tuning fork, “And this is the Staff of Sameness. It was one of the great mage Meadowbrook’s nine enchanted items.” Ok that doesn’t sound right, “We are incredibly fortunate to have it here. This is the tool that allows us to free ourselves from our marks. So, just wondering, how did the subject of the vault come up?”


“Well some ponies were talking about much they missed their cutie marks and-” I quickly rushed over and covered Pinkie’s mouth with my hand, “Pinkie!” I whispered harshly.

“Oh, I see, well it seems you inspire all sorts of free thinking, don’t you?” She ended with a glare.

“Look, we didn’t mean to cause a ruckus in your village-” AJ started before getting interrupted by having Starlight get in her face. 

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

AJ tried to back up only to have Double Diamond block her path, and following suit more of the towns residence started to appear from the caves.

“Well, I should’ve seen this coming!” I said As I flared out my wings, them being large enough to shield the girls from at least behind.

Twilight promptly teleported into the air and was getting ready to charge a spell of some kind before she was quickly hit with a beam from the staff having her cutie mark ripped away from her. 

“Twilight!” I called out to her, the temperature of the air dropping dramatically and right as I was about to make my move, something stung me on my arm. I looked down to see it was a dart, “Tranq darts, really?” I looked to Starlight as my world started to go fuzzy, “Clever girl…” and then nothingness.

To be continued...