Flash Sentry Chronicles: Our Town

by Banshee531


The Cutie Map

Our story begins in the middle of the night, all on the streets of a bustling metropolis. On these roads was a single wagon, one being pulled by an earth pony with several unicorns and pegasi walking/flying around it. The whole group were constantly darting their eyes back and forth, paranoia obviously on their faces.

"See anything?" The earth pony asked one of the pegasi, a shake of the head being the reply.

"Nothing. We seem to be in the clear."

"Well I ain't gonna be happy until we're at the rendezvous point. Then we can hoof this stuff off and it won't be our problem anymore." But as these words left his mouth, a single dagger-like projectile flew out of the darkness, striking the ground right in front of them. The sight made the whole group hop in place, the pony yelping, "What the-"

"Up there!" One of them yelled as it pointed upward, the hoof directing to four shadowy figures standing on a rooftop. They were concealed in the darkness of the night, only their eyes giving off any light. "It's the legendary defenders!"

In the blink of an eye, one of the figures disappeared and reappeared next to the dagger. Before they could react, he slammed an electrified hoof into one of the unicorns, light now filling the area from the blow as it revealed the defender known as Lightning Blitz.

Seeing this, the other three figures leapt into the fray. "Flash Cutter!" Blades of light struck several of the pegasi, knocking them out of the sky as Flash Sentry landed with Lightbringer in hoof.

"Bone Breaker!" Springer added in his battle form as he knocked out one of the unicorns with his aura weapon. But as this happened, the unicorns tried to blast him with their magic, only for metal spikes to shoot out of the ground, deflecting the beams back at the casters.

Now seeing the incoming reflections, the unicorns tried to scatter, only to turn and see one grinning Iron Core. "Iron Saber!"

WHAM!

Three unicorns went flying as Lightning started his face off with the earth pony, tossing his daggers all around the criminal. "HA! You missed!" the earth pony laughed.

"Did I?" Lightning asked before disappearing, reappearing soon while slamming him in the face with another electrified hoof. He did this several times, warping around the earth pony as burn marks started to cover his body.

As this happened, the criminals are grouped together as they kept trying to dodge the defender's attacks, the unicorns now summoning a shield around them. Seeing this, Flash leapt into the air as he yelled, "Springer!"

"Got it! Batter up!" the jakhowl replied as he tossed an aura sphere into the air, Flash's sword glowing as he pointed at the ball.

"Flash...CUTTER!" He slashed the orb with his sword, rocketing it towards the shield as the light of his attack surrounded it. The criminals all scrunched up for the attack, only for the orb to disappear. This made them raise an eyebrow, causing the unicorns to drop their shield. But as this happened, the ground suddenly exploded, knocking them all into heaps around the street.

Flash chuckled as he flew down to the rest of his team, the four pointing at the criminals. "As a deputized protector of Equestria, it is my hope you have enjoyed you flank kicking experience!" The criminals began to pick themselves at this, only to go wide-eyed as they saw the four unleash one final attack.

"Flash/Iron/Lightning/Aura...FORCE!" Three beams of light and a tornado of metal flew at the criminals, consuming and ripping them all to shreds. And when the light of the attacks died down, they saw the street was completely destroyed and the criminals vanished without a trace.

"Huh..." Springer commented as he returned to his smaller form, "Maybe we overdid it a little."

"Ya think?" Lightning sarcastically asked.

Iron just shrugged, "Better here than the real world."

"True," Flash agreed before walking through the wreckage of the town. As he did, a large crystal phased out of the ground and floated a few inches in the air, which he touched. There, it made a blinding light, one that spread across the city in an instant. In a flash, the city dissolved and the four found themselves in a square room made entirely out of crystal.

Iron let out a happy sigh as they walked over to a table of drinks, "Sweet Celestia, I love this new training hall."

"Tell me about it," Springer added as he gulped down a whole water bottle. "Its too cool."

"No kidding. We can make any situation." Lightning finished. "Heck, I could I live here."

Flash said nothing, simply take a sip out of his drink. He had to agree in loving the new training hall, basically getting rid of their old training field in one fell swoop. Now his favourite part of his new castle home, all you had to do was touch the crystal and imagine the area you want, which allowed the room to show solid illusions of that location. Now they could train anywhere, from a volcano, to a dark forest, and even the middle of the ocean.

"What I wouldn't do to have one of these are my house," Iron sighed.

"You might just get it," Flash replied as he put his drink away. "Twilight's been studying this room and working to replicate its abilities."

"Seriously?!" Iron squealed, actually looking giddy at this as they left the room. It had a been two weeks since the battle against Tirek, and in that time they had all memorized the castle's layout. Soon enough, they found themselves in the throne room of the castle and saw Spike sleeping in his throne.

The doors on the other side of the room opened up next, showing Twilight and the rest of the Mane Seven. Flash saw this as he and Springer sat down on their thrones. "Hey girls. Say, are we gonna do something to fill the space between these chairs?" He looked down at the emptiness, "It just doesn't look right."

Springer nodded at this while watching Pinkie bounce onto her throne, "Yeah! Imagine the size of the table we could have in there."

Twilight glanced at the space before looking around the room, a frown on her face, "Alright everypony, let's go through this one more time."

Rainbow sighed as she sat in her throne. "We've been over it like a million times, Twilight! We found all seven keys, defeated Tirek, got kidnapped while those defenders over there were useless, Springer saved us, and we got this sweet castle! End of story!"

Iron and Lightning both growled at her while Twilight shook her head, "Yes, but why?"

"I dunno sugarcube," Applejack commented as she tapped her hat. "Maybe it's just cuz ya'll needed a new house and there ain't nothin' more to it than that."

Rarity nodded as she crossed her hooves. "I agree. Also, I must say, speaking strictly on aesthetics, there really doesn't need to be more to it. It's all simply divine!"

"I agree with Twilight," Fluttershy said while climbing up onto her throne. "And Rarity. And Applejack. And Rainbow Dash. And Flash. And Springer. And Pinkie Pie." She then turned to the sleeping dragon. "Oh, and probably Spike."

"Besides, why does it matter on why you have it?" Lightning spoke up, "You have a castle now, enjoy it. Start throwing those big gala things and whatever else you're suppose to use big castles for."

"She doesn't need to throw parties, she needs to start thinking of getting her own guard detail." Iron grumbled as he pointed at the princess. "After what happened the other day, it's obvious you need somepony to patrol the place. Heck, I've already found like, a hundred hiding places for an assassin to lay in wait."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she started pacing. "Iron, I'm not going to do a huge guard detail for this castle. I don't want everypony to be intimidated to come up here. As princess, I've been chosen to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria, so why would the Tree of Harmony want us to sit in a castle in Ponyville?" She flew over to her throne, "It doesn't make any sense." She plonked her flank on the seat and as soon as she did, Flash noticed the image of her cutie mark on her throne suddenly light up.

He raised his eyebrow at this, only to see that the marks on all their thrones glowing, including his own. And he wasn't the only one who noticed the light. Before anypony could ask what was going on, the thrones all fired a different colored light out and hit the stared circle in the center of the room. There, the crystal of their thrones began to grow and spread towards the center. Lightning and Iron both stepped away while everypony else stared in shock as the crystals met, soon going up and unleashed a powerful light that almost blinded everypony.

And when the light faded, everyone opened their eyes and found that the empty space between their thrones was gone. Filling it was a large round crystal table, which began to emit a strange array of lights that took shape and formed a miniature representation of the land they knew as Equestria.

"What...just happened?" Springer asked before letting out a loud yawn.

They all looked over to the dragon, seeing him now noticing the new addition to the room as he woke up, only to go as wide-eyed as the rest of the group. "Is that new?" His shock quickly morphed into a smile, "I like it."


Scootaloo and her friends were been playing in the castle's ramp room when they suddenly heard a loud rumbling sound. Bringing their fun to a close, the three fillies ran to the throne room, Scootaloo yelling, "What's happening?" as she scooted into the room, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle in hot pursuit. They then spotted the crystal table, which both Spike and Springer were walking over. "What the-"

Flash interrupted his little sister with a glare, "Scoots...what have I told you about riding your scooter in the castle?!"

"Sorry..." Scootaloo jumped off her ride, "But I thought something was happening, and it looks like I was right!"

"Yeah! Where'd this thing come from?" Applebloom asked as she and Sweetie Belle walked over to their sisters. "Its all shiny and sparkly looking!"

"Your guess is as good as mine sugarcube."

"But it does look spectacular," Rarity added with Spike nodding.

"This is incredible!" The dragon announced, "It's got all of Equestria!"

"No kidding. It's got Rainbow Falls, the Crystal Empire, Appleloosa...even Dodge Junction." Springer commented as he leaned over to look at Equestria's seaside, "No Omniara though. Must be too far away."

"That is a six week trip on ship buddy."

"Hi Mom and Dad!" Pinkie said next to a miniature of her family's rock farm, only for Spike to step on it, making her tear up.

"So...what's it for?" Lightning asked as he tilted his head at the sight, "Why would the castle give you a map of Equestria?"

"Really life-like game of risk," Springer guessed before showing a glum frown, "Or a reminder of what we all went through with Shade. Though...this map looks a lot nicer than his machine."

It was here that the commentary stopped as seven pulsing lights appeared in the room. They then saw that the sources of the lights were the Mane Seven's cutie marks, each one sending a weird sensation through their bodies. And before anypony could ask what was happening, the lights flew off and took the shape of their cutie marks before flying over the table. Twilight levitated Spike and Springer off the map as they watched their cutie mark float over to the miniature Ponyville, Twilight's in the center with the others floating around it. It then began to float across the map to a spot up north, stopping right above a section that showed a few simple houses.

"Where's that?" Springer asked as he pointed back at Ponyville, "And why did the light show start at Ponyville?"

"I don't know," Twilight replied with crossed hooves. "But it seems like the map wants us to find out."

"Is that such a good idea?" Iron chimed in. "What if it's a trap? That Trickster thing could have set this all up in case he failed, which he did."

Springer shook his head. "Nah, I don't think so. That's way too forward thinking for Shade. I don't think the idea of me beating him even crossed his mind." Springer slumped back into his chair, "Besides, he's just after me and Princess Luna. I don't think he could care less about the rest of us or this castle."

Flash tapped the map next, "Not only that, I don't think Shade has the power or know how to mess with something the Tree of Harmony created."

Twilight nodded in agreement. "The tree, the chest, this castle...and now the map. How could we not follow it?"

Rainbow leapt out of her throne and hovered over the map, seeing what was between them and their destination before smirking. "Y'know what? There's a ton of room for dangerous adventure along that route! Count me in!"

Applejack chuckled at this, "Aw shoot, ah reckon ya'll are right."

Pinkie rubbed her chin, her lip exaggeratingly large while doing the motion, "Well, I was planning on organizing my baking sheets, but...okay!"

Rarity sighed with a smile on her face, "Very well, I'm in as well."

Every eye in the room then turned to Fluttershy, who looked over the map as she shrunk on the spot. Twiddlilng her hooves, she glanced over to the three youngest ponies of the group, "Um...maybe I'll just stay here and look after these three."

"Aww!" the girls moaned, "We don't get to come?!"

"Absolutely not!" Rarity replied with a glare.

"Sorry, but no dice you three. We don't know what we're going into. Besides, Springer and Spike can look after you." As this exited his mouth, memories of when they went to the Crystal Empire and left the two in charged flashed infront of his eyes. Sweating at the memories, Flash then added, "Plus...Iron and Lightning will be here."

"Hey!" Iron barked, "I'm a Royal Knight! NOT a foalsitter!"

"Me too!" Lightning added.

"You'll get more free time in the training room," Flash countered, making them both go wide-eyed with huge grins.

"We're in!"

"Great!" Spike cheered, "Me and Big Mac had a huge weekend planned out already and you all can join us. We're talkin' hoofball, and...and trading hoofball cards, and arguing about hoofball stats..." This was making Lightning and Iron want to join this even more, while Fluttershy seemed...less happy about staying.

"O-o-on second thought, m-m-maybe I'd better go with them. In case they need me."

"That's the spirit," Flash added as they all hopped off their thrones. "Let's get packing and get going."

"Agreed. It's time for a road trip," Twilight finished as the group left the castle, Flash and Twilight going to their rooms.

It wasn't long till they were all packed and ready to go, though it took a while to convince Rarity she didn't need eight suitcases worth of stuff. While they did this, Twilight reviewed the map and found the fastest way to get there was by train, which was followed by a two day march through a forest and a small mountain peak.

With everything ready, their friends saw the seven off. Pinkie and Fluttershy took the longest to say goodbye, Pinkie needing to be dragged away from her make-out session with Wild while Fluttershy gave a full detailed instructions on her animals to Iron.

There, they climbed aboard the Equestrian Express, and as it was about to pull out of the station, Flash poked his head out the train window. "Remember, Springer's not allowed midnight snacks and Scootaloo needs to be in bed by nine!"

"We got it," Iron grumbled while rolling his eyes before the train pulled away. The Mane Seven all waved goodbye to their friends until Ponyville was out of view, soon popping their heads back into the train.

The train ride was long and uneventful, or as uneventful as a train ride with Pinkie Pie could be, and eventually came to a stop at the very end of the line. "This is it," Twilight mentioned as the seven got off before the train began to move backwards.

Flash tilted his head at the sight, "Ooookay. That's a big of a design flaw. Haven't they ever heard of turntables?"

"Come on, no need to question everything Flash." Twilight added with a roll of the eyes, pulling Flash along by the tail with her magic. As she mentioned before, they had to travel through a large forest, complete with a rickety rope bridge before climbing through a small mountain range.

"That's it!" Twilight announced as they looked down from a cliff face. They all squinted her eyes at the sight, now seeing a tiny village, one Flash had to admit that the town in Omniara was larger than this one. "That's the place on the map!"

"Right..." Rarity commented while trying to get the dust she had picked up on their journey out of her mane. "Let's get down there and find the spa." She began to walk down a nearby path, only for Twilight to teleport herself in front of her.

"Wait!" She squeaked in a near whisper. "We don't know why the map sent us here. We shouldn't just walk right in. It could be dangerous."

"Yes!" Rainbow cheered.

"That's not a good thing Dash," Flash told her before Pinkie suddenly popped between him and Applejack. "What the-"

"Stay behind me, everypony! I'm on it!" Pinkie leaned over the cliff face, making both hop in place.

"Careful Pinkie!" Applejack yelled as Pinkie kept leaning forward, only to fall over the edge. They watched as she performed a Rollout attack down the cliff, soon reaching a boulder. Once there, she gestured for them to follow.

Flash let out a long sigh, facehoofing. "It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it." He, Rainbow and Twilight grabbed the flightless ponies and helped them down the cliff as Pinkie continued to survey the area mission impossible style. And when the others caught up, they found she was gone, only for a large boulder to be lifted up to show Pinkie, her hoof waving before the rock fell back on top of her. Flash rolled his eyes as he watched the boulder be dragged along the ground, right over to the edge of a hill that overlooked the village. The six arrived at the rock while a severally deflated Pinkie pulled herself out, all now using it as cover to look the town over.

As they did this, Rainbow grunted in disappointment. "This is where the map sent us? It looks like the most boring place in Equestria."

"No kidding. Its nothing but a bunch of the same buildings. No variety or anything." Flash added with a tilt of the head. That is, till he started blinking at the smiles on everypony's faces. There were ones of the smiles of a parent who had just eaten something their child had made them, but didn't want to tell them it was bad.

Applejack nodded in agreement, "That might be true, but it is just an ordinary village full of ordinary pony folk. Ain't nothin' bad about that."

Flash sighed before pulling Lightbringer out, "Darn. Kind of a waste to bring this with me."

"Though it could certainly use a few more architectural flourishes," Rarity commented. "Or...any architectural flourishes."

"I think it's lovely," Fluttershy added.

Pinkie just grumbled at the sight, "I don't like it. I don't like it one bit." The others turned to her, surprised at the frown on her face, "I know smiles. And those smiles? They're just not right."

"Forget the smiles," Twilight told them. "Look at the cutie marks." Flash looked back and went wide-eyed. The cutie marks of every pony in town were exactly the same. And equal sign.

"Ooookay. That's weird." Rainbow said with a grimace.

"Super weird," Flash finished as all but Pinkie slid back down to hide behind the rock. "Maybe this town is some sort of secret facility for ponies that are really good at math and the only way they let you in is to have that cutie mark." He turned to the others, only to see looks that screamed 'seriously'. "Hey, after everything we've been through, can you really say it's not in the realm of possibility?!" One round of no answers later, "That's what I thought. Besides, I'd like to see you come up with a way to explain all this."

"I think I can. Its called not trying to get an explanation for everything Flash." Twilight replied, only to get nudged by Rainbow.

"I bet there's some sort of horrific monster behind it!"

"What makes you say that?" Twilight asked, only to see Rainbow shine a huge grin.

"Cause fighting a horrific monster would be super-awesome!"

Flash stuck his tongue out that, "Been there, done that, got the scar to prove it."

Applejack was the next to give her two bits. "Ah reckon we just ought to head into town and talk to some locals, find out what's goin' on."

Rainbow flew down beside her. "Great idea, AJ! Let's go!"

The group soon started down the path, Flash and Pinkie remaining behind as the pegasus turned to the earth pony. "You coming?"

"Those smiles are bad news," she growled before sliding down the rock, now ready to join the others.


"Welcome!"

"Welcome!"

"Welcome!"

"Welcome!"

"Welcome!"

"Welcome!"

"Welcome!"

Flash shivered every time he heard somepony say that word now. No matter which way he looked, his creep-o-meter was ringing like a bell.

"This must be the most pleasant place in Equestria!" Fluttershy commented before a pegasus mare flew up to her.

"Welcome!" She said, making Fluttershy giggle.

"Ugh..." Rainbow moaned, "Thanks a lot, map."

"I'm starting to agree with Pinkie. This place is giving me the creeps." Flash added while shivering like a leaf. In that moment, a unicorn with a dark blue mane and tail stepped up to them. He was wearing a small cloak that looked like it was made out of a potato sack.

"Welcome!" He announced before taking a closer look at Twilight. "Pardon my forwardness, but are you an Alicorn?"

Twilight gave the best forced smile she could give while Applejack spoke up. "That there's the Princess of Friendship!"

"Well, you've certainly come to the right place for friendship!"

A white earth pony then walked up, "What brings you to town?"

"We're not entirely sure," Twilight replied as she almost backpedaled at the ponies' creepy smiles.

"I see," the earth pony replied with the unicorn trotted over to Rarity. "Well, all are welcome here in our little village! My name is Double Diamond, and this is Party Favor." The unicorn looked away from Rarity for a moment, the mare having been a little creeped out.

"Howdy, Double Diamond. I'm Applejack, and this here's Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Flash Sentry and Twilight Sparkle."

Double Diamond nodded and then turned to their flanks, examining their cutie marks. "And you all have your own unique cutie marks."

"Yeah, that's kind of the whole point of 'em. Guess you didn't get the memo-urgh!" He glared at Twilight, who had hit him in the ribs.

"If you don't mind, has there been any sort of...trouble here, lately?" Twilight replied with a half smile.

"Trouble?" Double Diamond asked with a tilt of the head. "Why, I don't think we've ever had trouble in our little village."

"None?" Flash responded with a raised eyebrow. "No...disagreements? No issues that'll cause strife? Heck, not even a mild bug infestation?"

"Stuff like that doesn't happen in our town," a pegasus mare in the crowd told him.

"It's true! You'll see," Party Favor added as he let out a low level laugh.

He and Double Diamond turned to walk down the street. "Perhaps you'd care to speak to our founder Starlight Glimmer. She'll make you see."

Exchanging glances, the groups started to follow the duo, Fluttershy chiming in with a smile, "I wish everypony in Equestria was as friendly as these ponies are."

"I guess?" Flash added as he scanned the place over again, "Doesn't look like this place has any conflict whatsoever...and that's not a good thing."

"Why not? Isn't a world without conflict what we all want?"

"A world without big conflict, sure. But a world without a single disagreement? That's not a good idea."

"Hmph! I've got my eye on them!" Pinkie spoke up as she glared at the ponies. "Something's rotten in...whatever the name of this village is that we're in right now!"

They eventually arrived at a house on the far side of the town, which the tour ponies knocked on the door before it swung open. "Starlight, we have some new visitors." One by one they stepped inside, seeing the house was plain just like all the others.

Rainbow then whispered to Flash and Applejack, "Be ready to fight. We don't know what's gonna come through that door." Flash nodded and slowly reached for his weapon, only for a pink unicorn with a purple mane and tail that had a blue streak to trot out into the room. Like the rest of the ponies, she had the equal sign cutie mark but lacked the creepy smile.

"Welcome! I'm so pleased to have you here." This caused Rainbow to groan while Flash moved his hoof away from his weapon.

Double Diamond stepped up to introduce them. "This is Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Flash Sentry and Twilight Sparkle."

Starlight and Twilight locked eyes immediately, the unicorn scanning her over before spotting her twitching wings. "Forgive my bluntness, but I'm assuming it's Princess Twilight Sparkle? We don't get many Alicorns around here."

Twilight wanted to backpedal at the statement, "Yes...I am. But just call me Twilight."

Starlight nodded, "So, how did you hear of our little village?"

"It's kind of a long story," Twilight replied while twiddling her hooves. "Let's just say we...found it on a map."

"Technically, it's a tree-chest-castle-map!" Pinkie butted in, making Flash facehoof.

Starlight looked like she wanted to raise an eyebrow at this, but switched to a calm smile, "Well, however you found us, we're happy to have you! We're happy to have anypony who wants to experience true friendship for the first time."

The whole group glanced at each for a second, confusion on every face as Applejack spoke up, "Say what?"

"Oh, I see you're confused." Starlight replied as she patted her chest, "You see, that's what's so unique about our village." She then pointed to a picture showing an equal sign. "Around here, we don't flaunt our special talents because we don't have any special talents to flaunt."

"No talents?" Flash asked, blinking, "How is that possible?"

Twilight pointed at Starlight's flank, "Is that why you all have those cutie marks?"

Starlight nodded. "Perhaps it would be easier to understand if I gave you a tour of the village!" Before they could reply, she headed to the door while everypony's built in music maker began to create a marching drum sound. Once outside, Starlight announced to the town. "Heads high, ponies! Marching proud!" A whistle blew out of nowhere. "All together now!" The towns ponies followed her match, ones even coming out of the buildings. "Every one of you, no pony left behind!"

Once everypony was outside, Starlight began to sing.

(Starlight)
Life is so grand in Our Town
We're always filled with cheer
We never have to look around
To know that we're all here

The Mane Seven trotted after Starlight, only for the townsponies to encircle them as they marched and sung.

(Citizens)
In Our Town, in Our Town
We don't have to wait
To find out that our destiny
Is just to emulate

Starlight marched past a group, "Let's see those big, happy smiles!" The ponies replied by smiling as largely as they could.

(Starlight)
Life is a smile in Our Town
Our cutie mark's the same
Because we do not separate
Ourselves by more than name

(Citizens)
In Our Town, in Our Town
We dare not compete
Winning only breeds the worst
Ego-filled conceit

As they sung this, a pair of pegasi flew up to Rainbow and pulled her down to the ground. Rainbow shined a horrified face, only to yelp in surprise as Starlight seemed to teleport behind her.

"You see? Now everypony wins!" Starlight exclaimed while marching off, leaving a very startled Rainbow in her wake.

(Starlight)
Life is a joy in Our Town
We're all equal here
No one is superior
And no one shakes in fear

(Citizens)
In Our Town, in Our Town
We work as a team
You can't have a nightmare
If you never dream

This statement put everypony on edge, only to have Starlight step up to Fluttershy and Pinkie.

(Starlight)
Other ponies argue
Do you ever wonder why?
When you think your talent's special
You don't see eye-to-eye

There's just too many differences
That lead to disarray
But when you learn to act as one
It's like a holiday

(Citizens)
In Our Town, in Our Town
We don't complicate
When you learn to simplify
Life is oh, so great

Join in our utopia
Come out of the dark
Banded by equality
By our cutie mark!

As the song ended, Rainbow began to laugh. "You're kidding, right? Give up our cutie marks? No way!"

"Rainbow Dash! Don't be so rude!" Fluttershy scolded the speedster. "I don't think we should judge them. They all seem perfectly happy with their choice."

But in that moment, Pinkie stepped up. "Don't believe their smiles, Fluttershy."

Flash nodded in agreement. "Yeah! And think of it like this, if you gave up your cutie mark, you'd be giving up everything that mark represents. It'd mean you couldn't understand Angel and the rest of your animal friends."

This made Fluttershy gasp as Twilight walked in front of Starlight. "I'm sorry, I guess we're just a little confused by all of this."

"We have no judgements here in our village," Starlight responded. "Each of us was confused once as well, blinded by the false promise of our cutie marks."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Is she for real?"

Flash tilted his head at this, "I know my cutie mark's never lied to me. I am who I am today because of the path it set me on."

Twilight nodded next. "Listen, miss....Starlight, 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."

Starlight rubbed her chin in thought at this, "Hmm...have you considered that perhaps you might have been sent here so we could help you?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at this. "After all, nopony has ever come to our village and wanted to leave. Why should you be any different?"

Flash leaned his head in-between the two, pointing to himself, "Well, speaking for myself here, but my sister and my duty as our town's defender of the peace. And my goal to one day become a Royal Knight."

"And there's nothing stopping you from bringing your sister here," Starlight instantly replied. "And as for those other two reasons, there's be no need for defenders and knights once Equestria learns to understand our philosophy. But anyway, this is entirely your choice." Starlight trotted passed them, "Please enjoy our little corner of Equestria. We're all quite fond of it as you no doubt will be as well. Double Diamond, please help our guests with whatever they might need."

"Of course," the earth pony said with his still creepy voice and smile. He turned with a silent grin, all but Fluttershy leaning back at the sight.

It was here that Starlight headed back to her house. "Well, this will certainly provide a boost to our little community. When the rest of Equestria sees that a princess gave up her cutie mark to join us-" Her smile faded to show a sinister smirk, "They'll finally understand what we're trying to accomplish."