My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 98: At The End of The Tracks

Shining returned to Ponyville, and after ensuring his friends wanted to go, he led them all to the train station and booked six tickets for the destination shown on the map. The pony in the ticket window found it odd that anypony would want to travel to such a remote location, but obeyed without hesitation.

The train rolled along the grassy fields, and out towards the mountains, passing through several tunnels and along a bridge. At last, it reached a small station in a rather lonely part of Equestria where no one seemed to be around. The stallions disembarked as soon as the train had stopped.

"Well, the village is just up ahead," Shining commented to his friends. "Guess we're hoofing it from here."

Thunderlane gulped slightly as he said to Shining. "You know, it's not too late to back out. I mean, as far as we know that village isn't a threat."

"You're right, Thunderlane. But at the same time, we don't know for sure that it isn't," Shining immediately replied. "And I have a nagging feeling that map wouldn't have told us to come here if there was nothing to see. Something must be up, I just wish I knew what that something was."

The rest of the journey passed in silence, no one daring to say anything. After what felt like an eternity of walking, the group crossed a rope bridge dangling over a mist covered chasm, and then the faint traces of a village appeared in the distance, two rows full of identical looking houses that seemed to almost represent an equal sign if one looked closely enough.

But before the stallions could think of how to best approach the village, Braeburn zipped forward and rolled down the hill, opting to hide beneath a boulder for cover! "Come on you guys, this way!" He whispered to them.

"Braeburn, what has gotten into you?" Fancy Pants demanded.

"You'll see, now come on!" Braeburn whispered again, and motioned for the others to join him. They reluctantly did so, and then with Braeburn's help they climbed up on top of the rock, but only to the point where their faces peeked out over it.

"What exactly are we lookin' at, cousin?" Big Macintosh asked.

"Just look at the villagers," Braeburn instructed. "I don't like it, not one little bit."

"What exactly are you talking about?" Soarin asked Braeburn, while eyeing the villagers. "They do seem a bit... odd, but they look happy."

"Too happy, that's the problem!" Braeburn explained, stomping his hooves in protest. "When you've been hangin' around Pinkie Pie for as long as I have, you start learnin' how to identify real smiles and how to tell them apart from fake smiles. And let me tell ya, those smiles are as fake as can be! They're just not natural, they're way too wide and bright! They're the kind of smile you wear when you're tryin' to act innocent and make it look like you've got nothin' to hide."

Upon a closer inspection, Shining noticed two other features about the smiling ponies that stood out. One was that all their coats were dulled in color (and their manes and tails had all been more or less styled to look the same, as if someone wanted there to be no individuality among the villagers), and the other was that on each pony, where a cutie mark should be, there was instead a black equal sign. "Never mind the smiles, I'm worried about the lack of cutie marks," Shining commented. "It seems like everypony's the same."

"I know, it's so hard to look at," Fancy Pants remarked. "There's being casual, and then there's just not bothering to look even remotely presentable. On top of that, just how does one make their coat fade in color? That shouldn't be possible, even with advanced magic."

"You know, I'm willing to bet there's some great evil force or horrific monster behind all this!" Soarin exclaimed.

"What makes ya say that?" Big Macintosh asked Soarin.

"Just noticing a pattern is all," Soarin replied. "I mean think about it, it seems like every time we're together, there's always some big threat lurking, and it falls to us to stop it. First it was Nightmare Moon, then Discord, after that it was Chrysalis, and of course we can't forget the likes of Sombra and Tirek."

"But what about the pony of shadows incident in the Castle of the Two Sisters, or Fashion Week in Manehattan?" Fancy Pants inquired. "Sounds like those were exceptions to the rule, weren't they?"

Soarin nodded. "True, but they were the only exceptions. And I'm getting that kind of air that tells me we're in for another one of those big adventures. The kind where we fight some monster and ultimately defeat the baddy with some kind of powerful magic. It's just too bad we don't know to summon up those awesome forms from when we fought Tirek, we're probably gonna need them to take down whoever or whatever is responsible for this sinister plot."

"Now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Shining advised. "Right now this is strictly a covert investigation, a good will tour if anyone asks. We don't know for sure if these villagers are a threat or being controlled by one, and I'm not about to make enemies where we could've made friends. So please, all of you be on your best behavior and no funny business, got it?!" He then added in a more gentle tone. "We don't necessarily have to approve of these villagers way of life, but it's not our place to judge them. Stay alert, but don't go looking for trouble. Now come on, let's see if these villagers are the sociable type. Maybe we'll get some useful information out of them."

The stallions all obeyed, but Braeburn commented to himself. "Those smiles are bad news. Something's rotten in... whatever the name of this town is."

---

The six stallions strolled right into the center of the village, and were surprised to see all the villagers turn their attention to the unexpected guests, all of them greeting in the same tone "Welcome.", which was more than enough to unnerve the stallions a bit. Fortunately, a welcoming committee soon presented itself in the form of a white coated earth pony stallion with light cobalt blue eyes and a snow white coated mane and tail, and a light blue coated unicorn stallion also with light cobalt blue eyes, and a blue and gray mane and tail. Said unicorn was wearing a tacky brown cloak around his chest.

"Ah, visitors, welcome to our humble little village," The earth pony stallion greeted. "My name is Double Diamond, and this here is Party Favor. And it's our job to welcome you to Cutie Markless Village, a place with no cutie marks and no worries."

"Cutie Markless, huh?" Shining pondered, eyeing Double Diamond suspiciously.

"If it helps, you can just call it 'Our Town' as that's what we prefer to know it as," Party Favor commented, eyeing Shining Armor carefully. "Say, I don't believe I've seen a lot of ponies like you. Do my eyes deceive me, or are you an alicorn?"

Shining nodded. "Yes, Equestria's first alicorn prince to boot. Prince Shining Armor, the official prince of friendship. And these are my good friends and trusted royal advisors: Big Macintosh, Braeburn, Soarin, Thunderlane, and Fancy Pants."

"'Prince of friendship' huh? Well, you've certainly come to the right place for 'friendship'." Party Favor happily replied.

"So, what brings you this way, prince?" Double Diamond asked in a friendly tone.

"To be honest, we're not entirely sure," Shining replied somewhat nervously. "We're here on a goodwill tour, but let's just say a little birdie told us that you might be having trouble."

"Trouble? Why, I don't think we've ever had trouble in our little village, though we have set up just recently," Double Diamond responded, turning his attention to the flanks of his guests. "Oh, and you all have your own unique cutie marks, very fascinating."

"And just why are you so interested in our cutie marks?" Shining inquired somewhat skeptically. "And just who's in charge here? If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak to your leader or whoever it is that has command over you."

"That would be our founder, Starlight Glimmer," Party Favor spoke up. "We'd be more than happy to introduce you to her. She just loves visitors, especially those that plan to stay. Come on, we'll take you to her. If you'll kindly follow us." And he and Double Diamond led the six stallions away.

"Gosh, these ponies seem rather friendly." Thunderlane whispered, as he and the others followed their hosts.

"Too friendly, I've got my eye on them," Braeburn advised. "Between this and the smiles, I just know there's something awfully suspicious going on here."

Double Diamond and Party Favor stopped outside one of the huts, and knocked on the door. "Starlight, it's us, Double Diamond and Party Favor," Double Diamond called out. "We've some guests who'd like to speak to you. Would that be alright?"

There was no reply, the door just opened all on its own. "Guess we'll take that as a yes," Party Favor nodded to Double Diamond, and then to the other stallions he instructed. "Please step right this way. Starlight will be with you momentarily."

Once the stallions were inside, Soarin whispered to Big Macintosh. "Be ready to fight, we don't know who or what's gonna come through that door."

The door at the end of the room then opened slowly, and as it swung open a pale light grayish-purple coated unicorn mare came trotting out. Her eyes were a moderate persian blue, and her mane and tail were a two toned purple with light grayish-aqua colored highlights. The mane and tail were styled to be as evenly distributed as possible. But most surprisingly of all, where the mare's cutie mark should be, there was only the same black equal sign that all the other villagers wore. "Welcome! I'm so glad to have you here," The mare greeted in a warm and friendly tone. "As you've probably guessed, my name is Starlight Glimmer. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Soarin groaned slightly at this. "Not sure what I expected, but somehow I thought it'd be something besides an ordinary pony," He thought to himself. "Although, now that I think about it. This mare's name and appearance remind me an awful lot of Shining's sister and that one pony who lives in that other world. That can't be a coincidence, can it?"

Author's Note:

Now we come to the introduction of Starlight Glimmer, and of course since the reason for Shining and his friends' visit is different compared to Twilight and her friends, a few things needed to be tweaked.

Comments

[Comickook]

Once again, excellent job on the latest chapter. The exchanges and characterizations are quite well done. And, yeah, I also really liked Soarin's thought-but-not-spoken observations on the similarities between Starlight's name and Twilight's.

And, yeah, I know the season 6 opener is a way off, but I HAVE thought of a couple of possibilities:

1. Twilight taking Starlight's canon spot (at least as far as donating HER power to the reconstruction of the Crystal Heart [after all, Shining is taking HER canon spot as far as THAT goes, so it's only fair Twilight takes Starlight's [so Starlight can face appropriate punishment {and I VERY specifically stress "'appropriate'" punishment} in the Season 5 finale without dooming the Crystal Empire in the Season 6 opener])

and 2. Since Twilight is NOT the Princess of Friendship in THIS universe, she doesn't have the added responsibilities to prevent her from accepting Shiny and Cadance's offered position as Flurry Heart's Royal Crystaller (though she and Spike can BOTH still share the role with Sunburst [after all, THREE caretakers would be better than one {given that, if one caretaker needs to go for supplies or just plain needs a short break for some reason, there is still somebody else there to pick up the proverbial slack}])

Of course, if you DON'T like the ideas, I will completely understand and will profusely apologize for wasting your time.

And, at any rate, I'll definitely be looking forward to more, but will also be quite willing to be patient.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

8266996 I'll consider those ideas, though if I did I'd still have Shining take Starlight on as his student and have her reunite with Sunburst.

[Comickook]

8267125
Well, it's your universe, so it's your call. That's fair enough.

As for Flurry Heart's birth, somebody of your choice at an appropriate point could point out "Well, considering both of her parents were alicorns at the time she was conceived, it makes sense that there would be an equal chance of her being born as either any one of the three tribes or as a combination of all three."

Though, again, I will completely understand if you don't like the idea for the Season Six opener.

[Lighting Flicker]

8262961
Sorry missed that. I my opinion it would be weird for Shining to go the human world, but I feel since it is his crown he would want to get back and not put his sister in danger. However I do see his sister going to the other world to defeat the Dazzlings.

[Yoshifan30]

But before the stallions could think of how to best approach the village, Braeburn zipped forward and rolled down the hill, opting to hide beneath a boulder for cover! "Come on you guys, this way!" He whispered to them.

How in the world did he do that dang it Why do I even bother asking lol 😅

[Yoshifan30]

"Too happy, that's the problem!" Braeburn explained, stomping his hooves in protest. "When you've been hangin' around Pinkie Pie for as long as I have, you start learnin' how to identify real smiles and how to tell them apart from fake smiles. And let me tell ya, those smiles are as fake as can be! They're just not natural, they're way too wide and bright! They're the kind of smile you wear when you're tryin' to act innocent and make it look like you've got nothin' to hide."

holy macro hes right It's basically You're wearing a mask so they don't know what your true feelings are It can be nervous What are they thinking

[Yoshifan30]

"Just noticing a pattern is all," Soarin replied. "I mean think about it, it seems like every time we're together, there's always some big threat lurking, and it falls to us to stop it. First it was Nightmare Moon, then Discord, after that it was Chrysalis, and of course we can't forget the likes of Sombra and Tirek."

Both rainbow and soarin Made a viable point When it comes to like that There's always something big going down lol

[Yoshifan30]

The stallions all obeyed, but Braeburn commented to himself. "Those smiles are bad news. Something's rotten in... whatever the name of this town is."

Seriously what is the name of this town?!?! lol 😆

[Yoshifan30]

"'Prince of friendship' huh? Well, you've certainly come to the right place for 'friendship'." Party Favor happily replied.

oh god thats creepy The way he says that in that tone It makes skin crawl 😰

[Yoshifan30]

"That would be our founder, Starlight Glimmer," Party Favor spoke up. "We'd be more than happy to introduce you to her. She just loves visitors, especially those that plan to stay. Come on, we'll take you to her. If you'll kindly follow us." And he and Double Diamond led the six stallions away.

Oh So you're still keeping starlight in this role huh ok cool That answer my question

[Yoshifan30]

"Gosh, these ponies seem rather friendly." Thunderlane whispered, as he and the others followed their hosts.

Of course you think they are Thunderlane 😑 But you're too kind Which the reason why you represent kindness So I can't argue with that

[Yoshifan30]

Soarin groaned slightly at this. " Not sure what I expected, but somehow I thought it'd be something besides an ordinary pony, " He thought to himself. " Although, now that I think about it. This mare's name and appearance remind me an awful lot of Shining's sister and that one pony who lives in that other world. That can't be a coincidence, can it? "

Yeah a lot of people point that out About the names and it's related to stars I think I got what they mean