Twilight Gets a Puppy
Season 5
By TDR
The Conjuration Map,
Episode Two,
Part Two
[ Outside of Our Town]
The trio at the small camp were not surprised at the appearance of a scroll out of thin air at the unicorns horn. Though all three were curious as to what it had to say.
“Okay we got a message back from bravo team. Seems PFC Buttercup worked with Snow Drop before joining the guard.” Snowy Path offered.
“Which one was she?” Slipstream asked.
“The green earth pony mare with the black hair we left at point two. Snow Drop is based out of Manehatten, so I got that correct. She doesn't know this mine, but the SOP for the company when mining is to build a town for the workers and she says the description of the layout of this place is too odd for it to be a mining town, so it was likely exploratory mining and this Starlight bought the land and built the town after the company pulled up stake. Snow Drop exploratory mining SOP was to dig numerous channels to the core of a mountain and then a vertical shaft out the middle to the top and connect all the tunnels to it. The mountain of that size should have at least forty or so exploratory tunnels dug into it from various heights and locations around the mountain itself.”
“Sounds like a perfect monster nest to me.” Slipstream grumbled.
“Probably. Though this isn't exactly useful to us.” Snowy Path pointed out.
Rahs considered flicking his ears as the other two watched the cant.
“Yeah... maybe the target is in the mines and not the town.” Snowy Path considered. “Something to consider and to pass onto the Bearer's when they return.”
[Our Town]
“This place just gets weirder and weirder.” Rainbow Dash muttered as the group trotted along a worn path.
“At least you didn't have to eat those muffins. I've accidentally eaten cardboard that tasted better.” Pinkie Pie groaned.
“I'm delighted you're interested in our cutie mark vault. We hope someday every pony 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.” Starlight beamed.
“Errrr yeah.... that's a bit..... optimistic really.” Twilight considered, picking her words. This had to have something to do with why they were here. The very idea of having ones cutie- marks removed was abhorrent, and that everyone here still seemed interested in cutie marks, save Starlight. Something was clearly wrong here. Rahs' report on the moon dogs in the area was odd as well, they all seemed to even dream about cutie marks, yet the moon dogs looked like they weren't getting enough food. Did cutie marks have something to do with the Oneiroi? Twilight made a note that studying the link again might be needed, though she already had a rather long list. Better still, where was Starlight's moon dog?
“Just through here! Behold! Our cutie mark vault!” Starlight gestured after leading the group into a cave just outside the edge of town.
The gathered mares all stopped and gawked at the massive glass wall filled with little boxes, each containing a single floating cutie mark inside it.
The brief silence was finally broken by Fluttershy.
“What the shit?”
[ Bayston]
Adagio stared into her drink as the music played in the background. Her sisters were on stage, playing for the crowd that was currently beating the fool out of itself in a classic bar room brawl.
This was not optimal at all. They might still be in Equestria, but they were forced to keep a low profile. Worse still was she had yet to figure out a way to augment her powers. Sure, she wasn't exactly weak, and of the three of them she knew more magic than the others, hence why she stuck with a unicorn disguise rather than any other, granted being a cross between the goddess of sea ponies and whatever her father was supposed to be didn't exactly make the most inconspicuous of normal forms. Still thanks to their mothers side of things they could adopt land forms that resembled ponies rather than be stuck in their Siren forms.
Of course sea ponies as a whole could alter themselves as they needed to. Like the nox-cal, sea ponies were three distinct tribes under one name.
The Kelpie, which tended to be the largest and most hardy of the three, they resembled earth ponies on land. Aria more closely followed them then any other. In the water the Kelpie looked more like sharks crossed with ponies than anything else, their Siren forms had a lot of that look.
The Mer were the pegasi equivalent. Fast, flighty, and in control of the currents more than any of the other three. They were the ones everyone thought of when some one mentioned sea ponies, likely due to their wanderlust matching the Thestrils and the Pegasi, they tended to want to be every where. While the land form didn't have wings per say, the long gossamer fins they possessed looked like wings despite not being able to provide true flight beyond gliding and fluttering about. Sonata tended to ignore that most of the time somehow, though her younger sister still rarely flew.
Then there were the unicorn equivalents, the ones that very rarely every left the deeper waters. While some of them did have horns, most of them tended to also have squid tendrils in their natural forms both as limbs and around their maws. While on land they did resemble unicorns however but it was rare that this tribe left the water. Adagio thankfully only took after them in terms of power rather than the looks the Innsmouth had. Though there were a few occasions in the human world she wouldn't have minded tentacles, particularly when they traveled through Japan.
Still with her ability to boost her magic limited since her gems destruction she had to come up with other ideas. One she had come up with should tip the odds in their favor next time some one tried to stop them. She couldn't wait to turn the tables on that goddess. Sure she couldn't kill her, but tormenting her for stopping them was a decent enough payback.
After all, the mare might be the goddess of magic, but if the magic came from another world, or something she hadn't studied before, the few moments of surprise would be more than enough to catch her off guard.
Though Adagio doubted the same trick would work twice on the purple alicorn.
[Cutie mark vault ]
“I've never seen anything like this.” Twilight muttered looking at the vault and the mass of floating cutie marks. There had to be one here for every one in the town with plenty of space left to spare.
“And here is the Staff of Sameness. It was one of the great mage Medowbrook's nine enchanted items. We are incredibly fortunate to have it here. 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?”
“Oh, some ponies were telling us how much they missed their cutie marks, and..” Pinkie Pie ranted.
“Pinkie!” Twilight snapped.
“Oops...”
“Were they? Well, it seems you inspire all sorts of free thinking, don't you?” Starlight frowned.
“Any one else getting serious 'Flavor-aid cult' vibes here?” Rainbow Dash offered.
“Ah am a might concerned that that staff don't smell like magic...”Applejack offered.
“Well, w-we certainly didn't intend to cause any disruptions to your charming little..” Rarity began.
“Good.” Starlight stated flatly before grinning wide the staff yanked from the pedestal.” Let's just make sure of that, shall we?”
“What?” Twilight demanded before a wash of magic from the staff enveloped the group.
A chorus of screams filled the cave as the girls cutie marks were yanked from them. The marks floating in the air before quickly being sealed away in jars bay the cackling unicorn.
“Aw. I don't blame you for what you tried to do here today. You've spent your whole lives thinking those marks are a good thing.” Starlight smirked.
“Give them back!” Twilight demanded, her horn sparking as she tired to focus on a spell and failed.
“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!” Starlight chuckled.
“You're not gonna win. Rahs will save us” Pinkie Pie cried out.
“Who?” Starlight questioned.
“Him.” Pinkie pointed.
Starlight glanced back not seeing anyone or anything in the direction the pink mare pointed.
“Umm?” Starlight blinked.
“Oh no! Him,... him... come on, Him.” Pinkie demanded gesturing wildly. ”Rahs this is a super dramatic moment, where are you?”