Diamond sighed nervously as she walked with Button and Acrylic back towards Harmony. Button had used his bending to help unbury the few remaining cutie marks that hadn't been freed(though most had) and make a path for them to escape through. When they'd asked about hers, she'd merely told them the truth. Meadowbrook had gotten away with them. They were, for now, being polite and keeping their mouths shut. She didn't want to imagine what that monster was doing with her marks.
But the Staff of Sameness was destroyed. That meant she couldn't use their powers anymore. Probably, or so she hoped. But she seemed to be able to do that spell partially, so Diamond didn't know what that would end up causing. Now came the moment of truth. She could see ponies and non-ponies in the city, waiting for her return. Would they be unmarked? Would they have their cutie marks? She hoped they did. She gave a nervous smile to the ponies as she walked up, her eyes instantly drawn to their flanks. Cutie marks. Every single one of them she could see had a cutie mark.
“Avatar, you've done it,” Strongheart said with a smile.
Diamond nodded. “Yeah, I di...” She paused and shook her head. “No, I really didn't. Not on my own, at least. I had my friends to help me when things got tough,” she said, motioning to Button and Acrylic. “I had all of you to help when I didn't think we could win. And... I had my past lives to help give me what I needed to fight.”
“So, I see you've got your air bending finally,” Prism said with a small chuckle. “I guess we're going to have to start practicing flying soon.”
Diamond blinked and gave a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, so long as we aren't attacking any airships. So uhhh... I guess... it's done now. Isn't it?”
“No, not yet,” Blaze said with a shake of her head. “There's still a lot of work to do. We need to find out which of the unmarked are dangerous, make sure everypony is okay and...” She closed her eyes and sighed. “Help the... wounded...”
“The wounded? Oh no...”
She nodded. “Yeah. There weren't a lot but... well... Hornclipper...” She sighed. “Ironwing and Scootaloo are heading to him now. But his wings were...”
------
Scootaloo slowly reached out and knocked on the door to the hospital room. Ironwing was standing behind her, nervously shuffling his hooves. She didn't blame him, this wasn't something either of them were comfortable with. Ironwing probably wanted to keep resting, too.
“Come in,” Hornclipper's voice called.
She took a deep breath and pushed open the door. She froze and stared.
Her husband was there, except at his side were two bandaged up stumps. His wings were gone, not a feather remaining. She slowly stepped forward. “Oh honey...”
He shrugged. “It happens. I got careless.”
“No, it does not 'happen',” she said firmly as she walked over and gave him a hug. “I can't believe this...”
“It's fine,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I'm honestly surprised it took this long, I figured one of those fire benders would have tried to do it years ago.” He then looked to Ironwing. “How are you doing, son?”
“Still a bit of a limp. I'm fine though,” the stallion said before limping towards the bed and sitting on the edge. “So uhhh... can't reattach them?”
“Even if we knew what she did with them, it's far too late. She probably burned them to a crisp, anyway,” Hornclipper said with a shrug.
“Don't worry, we're going to find something to fix this. Maybe we can--”
“Did somepony say fix things?” The door burst open and Dr. Alicity trotted in, followed by Secretary.
Scootaloo blinked, then narrowed her eyes. “Aren't you supposed to be in jail?”
“Charges haven't been officially filed yet!” he said quickly, before pointing a hoof at Hornclipper. “Now, I heard about what happened and I rushed over as quick as I could!”
“That and we were trying to run from the authorities,” Secretary said flatly.
“And I want you to be a test sub-- a volunteer for a new procedure!” he said with a nod. “I've already developed artificial wings, now replacement wings should be possible! In fact, I imagine in just a few short months they--”
“No,” Hornclipper interrupted, shaking his head.
The doctor stopped and blinked a few times. “Errr... no? What do you mean, no?”
“No. I lost these wings because of what I did. I ruined enough ponies lives by taking their horns, losing my wings is the least I could do. I will bear this and... err...” The words slowly faded away as Scootaloo just glared at him.
“He accepts,” Scootaloo said firmly, never taking her eyes off the stallion.
“Great, just be in my office tomorrow and I'll be--”
“DR. ALICITY! GET BACK HERE!”
“And that's our cue to run!” the doctor yelled before dashing out the door, Secretary following after him.
“GET BACK HERE! You're under arrest!” a voice yelled.
“Not until you catch me and place charges!”
“That's not how the law works!”
“It's close enough!”
Ironwing stared at the door before face hoofing. “Idiot.”
“I'm not doing it. I deserve this,” Hornclipper said. Scootaloo just kept glaring. “You know how many unicorns had to go through life without their horns thanks to me? Hundreds. I did this. Me. I don't deserve my wings.” Glare. Glare glare. Glare. “Listen, I understand he just wants to help, but he should do it on... somepony more... deserving.” Glarrrrrrrrrre. He finally lowered his eyes. “Fine I'll do it just stop glaring please,” he said meekly.
“Good,” she said with a nod before reaching out and patting his back. “This is why you should listen to me more often and not that dark, whiny side of yourself.”
“Grumble... 'm not whiny...”
“Of course not, dear.”
------
“So... just clean off? That had to hurt,” Diamond said softly. “How uhhh... how many others suffered through that?”
“I think he was the only one,” Blaze said, before her eyes wandered to the Avatar's flank. “Your... cutie mark. Is it... well...”
“Meadowbrook got away with them. Most of them. I couldn't stop her. I tried, but... she got away. But it's fine. I can air bend now, everypony else has their cutie marks. I can find mine eventually.”
The mare nodded. “Of course. Eventually we will.”
“In the mean time, there's still a lot more training for you to do,” Prism said with a nod.
“Yeah. Zecora was helping me a bit, too. Getting in touch with my past lives.” She frowned. “Though... I couldn't really connect with Twilight. I was able to for a moment, but it didn't last long. And--”
“Diamond!” Silver yelled, galloping up. She wrapped her hooves around the mare, nearly knocking her over.
“Hey, what? Why? Silver! You've got your cutie mark back!”
“Yep,” the mare said with a grin. “I knew you could do it. I knew you'd save us all.”
Diamond nodded, chuckling. “Thanks. It wasn't just me, though. Everypony came together and we did it.” She hugged her friend for a few more moments, before pulling away. “So, the council is getting together now, right?”
Blaze nodded. “Yes. There's still more to discuss. However, we can't seem to find Sunburst anywhere. We're sure he'll turn up, though. There's still a lot of work to do and the council will need every able bodied pony they can get their hooves on.”
Diamond nodded. “I'll help as best I can. There's still a lot to do, but I think if we work together, it'll be no problem.”
Prism nodded. “Indeed, Avatar.” He paused for a moment. “I... must say. In the short time I've known you, you've grown quite a bit. Maybe having you as the Avatar isn't as bad as I initially thought.”
The mare blushed and looked down. “Thanks. I uhhh... what can I say? I've had some really good teachers.” She took a deep breath and looked around. “Let's get to work, though. Still so much to do now that everypony is back to normal. I need to write to daddy, too. He's never going to believe all that's happened.” She trotted after them.
Button grinned as he watched her go, before looking to Acrylic. “You're not going to believe this.”
“What?”
“I... think I'm dating the Avatar now.”
The unicorn blinked a few times, before cocking his head to the side. “Wait, what?”
“Yeah! We were in the tunnels and she kissed me! Then she confessed her love!” the earth pony said, letting out a little sqwee. “I never thought she was that into me!”
Acrylic just stared for a few moments before giving a nod. “Well... uhhhh... congrats. Good luck.” The unicorn gave a small smile. Though all he felt was dread for his poor friend. He wouldn't have wished dating that mare on anypony.