My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 101: Trapped!

Shining was up bright and early the next day, and after making sure he wasn't being followed, he ducked into a bush near Starlight's hut. He waited for her to come out, and as he did he thought to himself. "I sure hope that Party Favor was telling the truth about Starlight. Otherwise, things could get ugly."

But sure enough, as if on cue, Starlight came trotting out of her hut with a big smile on her face. She did a quick inspection of the village, then set off towards the cave. Shining saw this as his chance to move, he emerged from the bush and carefully followed Starlight from a distance. "Okay, Miss. Glimmer. Show me that vault of yours, let me see what you're up to." He thought to himself, though a part of him hoped that maybe Party Favor was exaggerating. After all, why would anyone want to keep a vault full of cutie marks? And in a cave no less? That was way too much secrecy for just one pony.

Weaving along a winding mountain path, Shining tailed Starlight, hiding behind rocks and boulders as needed. At last, he saw Starlight enter a gigantic cave that had a strange glow to it. But Shining hesitated just before the entrance. "What if Starlight spots me?! I don't know if there's any places to hide!" He anxiously thought, then he spotted a small crevice higher up, and he got an idea. Flapping his wings, Shining entered the crevice and slowly pushed forward until he could see into the cave. His eyes lit up, as he saw an enormous vault filled with all sorts of cutie marks! Resting on a small stone podium, was a gigantic, two pronged staff. Shining realized that was probably the Staff of Sameness Night Glider had mentioned. "So, those villagers were telling the truth!" He thought to himself. "But just what is Starlight Glimmer up to? Why would she want to convince these ponies to give up their cutie marks? And now that I think about it, why does it seem like she's the only one not affected by whatever those black marks are? I don't like this, something is definitely
wrong here!"

Seemingly unaware of the presence of an outsider, Starlight picked up the staff with her magic and remarked to herself. "Ah, hello my old friend. I'm sure I'll have need of you again soon. To think it was so easy to fool those ponies into thinking that this was the ninth enchanted item of the great Mage Meadowbrook. But I can't take all the credit, I really should send a thank you card to that pony studying for her rocktorate. If not for her, I would've never come across the stone needed to store all the cutie mark magic. It won't be long before I'll be able to expand this village and its mission beyond the reaches of these mountains! I'll show them, show them all how evil cutie marks can be! Then I won't be alone in my suffering!"

Shining unintentionally gasped (which was not a very smart thing to do if you were trying to stay hidden)! And to make matters worse, as he tried to back away, he ended up losing his hoofing! He slipped and fell, barely able to keep himself from crash landing thanks to his wings! But as he picked himself up and dusted himself off, he found himself face to face with Starlight herself.

"Well, well, well," Starlight cackled in a sinister tone. "It seems I have a nosy little rat snooping around, sticking his nose where it doesn't belong."

Trying to slowly back away, Shining hastily apologized. "I'm... very sorry, ma'am. I-I didn't see a thing, promise! I'll uh... just... be on m-my way."

"Please, how naive do you think I am?!" Starlight mocked, rolling her eyes. "Now that you've seen what you've seen, I'm afraid I can't just let you leave! Though I'm curious, usually I'm the one that has to mention the vault, and that's when I believe somepony's ready to join 'Our Town'. So, just how did the subject of the vault come up? Who told you about it? Somepony unsatisfied with their cutie markless life perhaps?"

"If it is, it's none of your concern!" Shining protested. "And you shouldn't be forcing your will onto others, that's not the hallmark of a good leader! A good leader steps up and takes charge, but listens to those they rule over! A good leader works to bring change for the better, not force others to conform to bad standards!"

Starlight only laughed, as she picked up the Staff of Sameness. "Oh, but don't you see? I am a good leader! I'm freeing these ponies from the horrible atrocities that a life of cutie marks and special talents ultimately brings!" Pointing the staff at Shining, she added. "I don't think it's coincidence that you showed up here, and suddenly I'm learning that there are those who wish to conspire against me and ruin everything I've worked so hard to accomplish. You and your friends inspire all sorts of free thinking, and I can't have that in my village!"

Shining dodged a blast from the staff, as he tried to back away. Regardless of his magical power, he didn't dare risk taking Starlight in a straight up fight, not while she wielded a staff that could take away his cutie mark! "Enough of this madness, Starlight!" Shining retorted. "There's a perfectly good four letter word that describes your way of thinking, and you're full of it!"

"Oh my, such vulgar language!" Starlight scolded. "We'll have to fix that temper of yours, prince."

"Try it, you won't succeed!" Shining snorted. "You just wait til I get out of here! The Princesses won't be pleased to hear about this, and as luck would have it they're both more powerful than I am! I'd give up right now if I were you."

If Starlight was at all worried by this comment, she didn't show it. Instead, a smirk formed on her face as she replied. "Figured you were up to no good, somepony had to have sent you."

"Actually, I came here of my own free will, and I'm glad I did!" Shining said sternly. "I'm only gonna say this once, Starlight! Surrender and give back the cutie marks you stole, and I might consider letting you off with just that staff confiscated!"

"You're in no position to make threats, Prince," Starlight hissed, and then she ordered. "Double Diamond, seize this intruder!"

Before Shining had a chance to react, Double Diamond leapt from the shadows, and tackled Shining, thus subduing him even as the prince tried in vain to break free. "Coward!" Shining bellowed at the top of his lungs. "Can't take me in a fair fight, so you have your underling do your dirty work!" And to Double Diamond he questioned. "Why are you serving her?! You're just her lapdog, you wag your tail at her command!"

"Got no choice," Double Diamond protested. "Starlight is quite scary when she's angry, and I'd rather stay on her good side," He then shouted. "He's all yours, Starlight! Make an example out of him!"

"With pleasure," Starlight sinisterly smiled, and then holding up the staff she pointed it at Shining as she added. "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit. It'll hurt a whole lot, but it serves you right!"

Shining made a valiant effort to escape Double Diamond's grasp, but it was no use. He was struck by the Staff of Sameness, and despite his best efforts to fight the magic, he was unable to keep his cutie mark from being yanked off him! His blue shield surrounded by three lighter blue stars with a magenta colored six sided star inside of the shield, rested firmly on the staff. And Shining could only watch, as the cutie mark was placed into one of the boxes in the vault, the very center of the vault no less.

---

Just then, all of Shining's friends were forced into the cave and placed before Starlight, the villagers surrounding them and preventing them from escaping!

"It's a trap, run!" Shining cried out, but his friends were too terrified at the sight they saw before them! Shining's coat and mane and tail had dulled in color, and where his cutie mark should be there was only a black equal sign!

"Sorry, Shining, looks like Double Diamond wasn't the only villager working as Starlight's secret police," Soarin confessed, as the five stallions found themselves all huddled together. "This one mare told us she had important news about you, but as soon as we stepped inside her hut, we were assaulted, overpowered, and brought here."

"Starlight, what's the meaning of this?" Double Diamond asked, looking at the other stallions. "I thought we were only interested in Shining Armor."

"His friends are as guilty of inspiring free thinking as the prince himself is," Starlight explained, picking up the staff again. "And that means they're far too dangerous to be allowed to keep their cutie marks! We need to make an example of them too, that way all will see what happens to anyone foolish enough to think they can destroy the foundation of Cutie Markless Village!"

"But Starlight, I don't think-" Double Diamond began.

"-It's not your job to think, Double Diamond!" Starlight interrupted. "It's your job to do as I say and be my eyes and ears! But I'm starting to think maybe you can't be trusted, you were supposed to report any signs of suspicious activity to me! Yet it seems a secret meeting took place, and these six ponies learned about the vault. However, since I'm such a 'generous' mare, I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself. Now stand aside and let me strip these ponies of their cutie marks, otherwise you'll end up in the same place as them!"

Double Diamond gulped, but reluctantly obliged as he replied. "Very well, Starlight."

Starlight just smiled, then pointed the staff at Soarin, Thunderlane, Braeburn, Big Macintosh, and Fancy Pants! They tried to run, but the villagers in the cave quickly blocked off their escape! With a zap, Starlight fired off a blast from the staff, and effortlessly removed the cutie marks of all five stallions, whisking said marks away into random boxes. As the black equal signs formed on the flanks of each stallion, one by one their coats, manes, and tails all became dulled and grayed.

Approaching the now powerless stallions, Starlight taunted in a condescending tone of voice. " Aw. I don't blame you all for what you tried to do here today. Who could blame you? You've spent your whole lives thinking those marks are a good thing, when in fact they were not."

"You're walking a very fine tightrope here, Starlight!" Shining warned. "Give back those cutie marks, they're not yours to posses!"

"As if I'd listen to the likes of you," Starlight replied, turning her head. "Now you'll spend the rest of your lives here with us! And we'll gladly teach you just how much better life can be without your cutie marks! It's like I said: 'Nopony has ever come to our village and wanted to leave.'"

Author's Note:

Since Shining was going to the vault in secret, I knew I needed to come up with something else to explain how his friends ended up there.

The bit with Double Diamond's reluctance, is to foreshadow what happens to him later on. We'll talk more about that when the time comes.

Comments

[kahnac]

You're still a bitch, Starlight.

[Comickook]

Not much I can say beyond, once again, great job on this latest chapter. Admittedly, the investigation hit a snag, but we basically knew it would anyway. Yeah, the guys are in a real mess right now, but we know they will think of some way out of it in the long run.

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Anyway, I've got a couple of ideas for the upcoming "Comics Edition" of your "What If" series (which I know is still going to be at least a couple of volumes away, but what the heck?)

"Reflections": Expanded to a six-part story and basically giving the Mane Six a chance to meet some of the Mirror Universe heroes only hinted at in the actual story (in particular, it might be interesting to see Twi and the others' reactions to actually meeting a GOOD version of Chrysalis), providing a little extra background detail and giving all the good characters (including those from the Mirror Universe) a fair chance to shine.

Issues 23 and 24: Basically starting the Discord time-travel adventure in issue 23 and making it a two-parter.

"The Good, The Bad and the Ponies": Well, it could be a JUST Applejack and Rainbow adventure (which might justify Longhorn and his gang lasting even to the end of Part One [so Part Two can be focused on looking for Applejack's missing relative])

"The Root of the Problem": Happens at the exact same time as "the Good, the Bad and the Ponies" (which, in turn, is also set during "Rainbow Rocks"; thereby completely justifying Twilight's absence in BOTH stories) and is a JUST Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie adventure.

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Of course, if you don't like the ideas, I WILL completely understand and apologize profusely for wasting your time.

At any rate, I will definitely be looking forward to more, but will also respect the fact that real world concerns have to come first.

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And my condolences to Stan Lee for the recent loss of his wife.

[Comickook]

Hey there. Just thought you might want to know; Hopeful Ink Hoof has just started a new "Shinyverse" story just in case you are interested.

[Yoshifan30]

man starlight You're really are creepy as I said before even double diamond knows This is gone too far but he's afraid of her I mean she is Dang powerful But i'm sure they will stop her