My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship

by Danieru

93. Our Town - Part 2

In a small room in Our Town...

Star Twinkle slowly opened his eyes and found himself in an unknown room. He didn't even know what happened or why he was in this room to begin with. His mind was a huge blur at the moment. "What happened?" He asked confused while he grabbed his head in pain.

He could feel something tight around his neck. He quickly found out that it was a collar with a chain strapped to the wall. "What!?" Star Twinkle could only say once he figured out that he was held as a prisoner.

"Oh! You're awake!" A female voice then said.

The voice belonged to Starlight Glimmer, the very pony who took away the Cutie Marks of him and his friends. Suddenly, his memories formed inside his head again. He remembered what happened. The Cutie Mark Vault, the whole town setting up a trap, Starlight Glimmer taking away everyponies Cutie Marks, it all came back to him.

"You!" Star Twinkle exclaimed angrily while he got up on his hooves only to drop down on his knees again. He panted heavily in exhaustion. "Why do I feel so weak!? I fell like I just ran through half of Equestria, twice!"

"You should probably rest a little bit more," Starlight Glimmer said once she saw Star Twinkle in this state. "Your friends would be really upset if something happens to you," she said in a pretty uncaring tone.

"My friends!" Star Twinkle said in shock. "Where are they!? What did you do with them!?" He asked angrily.

Despite Star Twinkle getting angry at the mare, Starlight Glimmer did not feel threatened at all. "I didn't hurt them if that is what you're asking. No, actually, its quite the opposite. They are about to change for the better and I just...give them a little push in the right direction," she explained.

"By stealing their Cutie Marks against their own will!?" Star Twinkle shot back to the mare angrily.

Starlight Glimmer sighed. "I know ponies like you would never understand. Living with your Cutie Marks has completely blinded you," she said arrogantly. "Speaking of Cutie Marks," she started while the mare walked closer to the stallion with a curious expression on her face. "You are not exactly what I would call normal. Why is it that you still have a Cutie Mark?"

Star Twinkle didn't understand the question. He saw how his friends had equal signs on their flanks before he passed and assumed that the same happened to him but once he looked at his flank, he saw that this was not the case. Six white stars. That is what was on his flank right now. Instead of a big white star, there were six smaller ones, one in the middle and five around them.

"Normally, whenever I take a Cutie Mark away from somepony, they are replaced with those," she explained while she pointed at her flank, at her equal sign Cutie Mark to be exact. "But yours was replaced. That never happened before. It's quite bizarre. Not to mention that weird transformation that you did, which is why I had to take some precautions," she said, hinting at the chain around Star Twinkle's neck.

The green pony was listening but he still kept looking at his flank. He was confused and didn't know what the meaning of this was. For some reason though, this Cutie Mark looked familiar. He saw it before, he was sure of that. But once he tried to remember, his head started to hurt and he clenched his teeth.

Starlight Glimmer noticed and had a slightly worried expression on her face. "You know, I planned on removing this Cutie Mark as well but since you collapsed after I removed your first one, and did this weird transformation, something that I would like to know more of later as well, I figured I shouldn't. I didn't want to put you through any more pain after all," she explained.

For obvious reasons, Star Twinkle looked over to the mare with a look of disbelieve on his face. "How nice of you," he said sarcastically.

The mare got offended by those words a little but decided to ignore them. "Despite what you think, I do care about the ponies who will soon join our little community. I'm not a monster, you know,"

"I would like to get a second opinion on that," Star Twinkle shot back.

Again, Starlight Glimmer ignored those words and walked away towards a door at the end of the room. "I deal with you once I am done with your friends. Right now, they are about to see the light as well and it will not take long until you will see it too," she said confidently before she left the room.

Once, the mare was gone, Star Twinkle immediately tried to break himself free from the chain. But it didn't work, mainly because he felt really weak and exhausted. It must have been because his Cutie Mark got removed. Thinking about that only caused him to look at his flank again.

The stallion only sighed. "Of course something "special" happened to me," he said annoyed. He was referring to how he was the only one who's Cutie Mark was not replaced with an equal sign. He remembered back to before he came to this town how he was not having his own seat in Twilight's castle. Or that one time where his Element of Harmony shattered when he and his friends gave the Tree of Harmony the elements back. Or that time where he was confronted by Discord and wasn't corrupted.

It was beginning to feel a little bit like a running gag. It was like the whole world wanted to convince the stallion that he wasn't like his friends. And of course, after remembering all of those things, all the stallion wanted to know is trying to find the answers. But unfortunately, he had no time for that. He needed to get out of this room and see if his friends were okay. After figuring that he was too weak to break the chain around his neck he quickly concluded that he should transform and use magic to simply teleport out of there. He got second thoughts though once he remembered how he passed out after Starlight Glimmer stole his Cutie Mark.

But the concern for his friends is what caused him to try anyway. He could not just sit here and wait while his friends were in danger. But still, even after he decided to do something, he felt too weak to transform. No matter how much energy he used, which was very limited, to begin with, he could not access this transformation.

"You got to be kidding me!" Star Twinkle said annoyed after he gave up. He was panting heavily in exhaustion. Just the thought that his friends were in this condition as well was getting the stallion worried. "Is there nothing I can do!?" He said in frustration.

He looked around in the room. The was a lock around Star Twinkle's neck so that meant that there was a key somewhere around. The chain that was connected to the wall was not too long and Starlight Glimmer seemed to have made sure that every object in the room was too far away from the stallion. There was nothing that he could do right now.

The stallion decided to lay down and look at the ceiling. He accepted that he could just wait. And once there was nothing to do for him, his mind wandered around the events that happened a few hours ago. His friends lost their Cutie Marks and were probably trapped somewhere in this town so that they could be brainwashed to join or something like that.

It didn't take long until Star Twinkle looked at his flank. He could see six small white stars instead of one big white star. The longer he stared at it, the more it looked familiar. But why was that? He had no idea, and thinking about it gave him a headache, literally.

He decided to take a nap. The ground was not comfortable but he was also really weak and tired so he couldn't care less right now. The thought that his friends could be in danger right now is what made falling asleep a little bit harder for him but eventually, his exhaustion won the battle and he drifted off.

One night later...

"Good evening!" Was the first thing that Star Twinkle could hear in the morning. Starlight Glimmer was the one who woke him up.

Star Twinkle rubbed his eyes in confusion. "Evening?" He asked confused.

"Yes," Starlight replied. "You really have a deep sleep, I must admit. I guess that this whole "Cutie Mark removal" was even more exhausting to you than I originally thought,"

The stallion looked out of the window of this room and realized that it must be true. It was dark outside. It wasn't before so he might have only slept a few hours until it became dark and Starlight was just messing around with him but he had no idea what that she would get from that. But despite him sleeping for so long, the exhaustion did not go away, at least not too much.

Starlight Glimmer approached Star Twinkle with a smile on her face which really started to worry him. "I hope you slept well," she had the nerve to ask.

"No," Star Twinkle replied with a bad mood. He was a pony who highly appreciated a good rest and sleeping on the ground was not to his liking at all.

But the mare's smile didn't vanish. It almost seemed as if she was in a really good mood. "Maybe it will cheer you up to know that one of your friends has already joined our little community!"

"What!?" Star Twinkle said in shock. "Who!?"

"Fluttershy," Starlight Glimmer said with a smile on her face. Seeing the shocked expression on the stallion's face was probably the major reason why she was so happy at the moment. "And it only took one night for her to realize that this is the better decision."

Star Twinkle clenched his teeth. "Of course, Fluttershy would be the one to fall first..." the stallion thought. "Did the others try to stop her? It's Fluttershy after all. Was she really able to get her will through?" The more Star Twinkle thought about it, the more he realized that something was fishy. Fluttershy was probably manipulated, and knowing how she was someone who could barely resist when somepony tried to talk her into something supported this his theory. There was also a possibility that she genuinely joined this town. She liked this town since the very beginning after all. However, after what happened to her and her friends, she should see that this is not okay.

While Star Twinkle was thinking about all this to find an answer, Starlight continued to show how happy she was by this outcome.

"No matter how much time it takes for you all to see the light, sooner or later you will all see how much better everything is without a Cutie Mark," she said confidently followed by a little chuckle after she imagined all of this in her head.

But once Star Twinkle asked a certain question, the face of the mare looked a little bit more serious again. "Why exactly are you doing all of this!?" Star Twinkle asked after he heard what already happened to one of his friends. "What do you get out of this!?"

Starlight Glimmer had a quick answer ready. "The happiness and joy of my fellow ponies," she said humbly.

"But what if they aren't happy?" Star Twinkle said. What came to his mind was Party Favor, Sugar Belle and Night Glider, who all wanted to have their Cutie Marks back and who envied Star Twinkle and his friends for their Cutie Marks. "What if they aren't happy and they just believe you because they trust you?"

"They are happy," Starlight Glimmer replied confidently. "And they are right to trust me, I am the founder of this town after all,"

"But I thought everypony in this town is equal," Star Twinkle said after he spotted a little mistake in all of this. "So what exactly gives you the right to decided everyponies happiness!?" The stallion said. He found himself really involved in all of this by now. He was also angry at the mare for manipulating one of his friends so there was some anger in this voice as well.

This anger, however, was also affecting Starlight Glimmer, who was starting to get sick of how this pony was talking to her. The mare walked closer to Star Twinkle until she was only inches away from the stallion's face, giving him a glare that was countered by his own. "Do you really think a pony who lived his whole life with a Cutie Mark has any right to know how it would be like to live without one?" She said angrily while she locked eyes with the stallion.

The tension was really high between the two of them. They both would like to smack some senses into each other but in the middle of their glaring contest, knocking could be heard from downstairs.

"I need to get that," Starlight Glimmer said in a bitter tone before she walked out of the room slowly while keeping a close look on Star Twinkle as she closed the door behind her. The stallion could hear how she locked the door form the other side. She must have been really cautious of him by now.

One locked door was not what Star Twinkle was worried about, however. He was more concerned about his friends. If what Starlight Glimmer said was true, then his friends would really end up being under her control if time goes on. Star Twinkle had to do something and quick.

But the things that he could do were limited, or rather, not present at all so all he could do was waiting for an opportunity to escape. But with him chained to the wall and Starlight Glimmer hovering around him most of the time, he probably only had one chance. Star Twinkle needed to think quick to find a solution. There had to be something that he could do. He was going so far to wish for something that would point him in the right direction.

And then, almost as if someone heard his wish, somepony called his name.

"Star Twinkle?" A female voice whispered.

The stallion instantly recognized that voice. "Fluttershy?" He asked in a loud tone, something that he didn't plan on doing considering that Starlight Glimmer could hear him.

He only heard Fluttershy's voice but he couldn't see her right away but eventually, she showed herself. She was on the other side of the window. She carefully opened it and sneaked inside the room with her head low before she suddenly hugged the stallion. "Thank goodness you are alright!" She said in relief. "We were all so worried about you!"

It took Star Twinkle by surprise that the mare approached him like this but in hindsight it made sense. He collapsed once his Cutie Mark got removed and he tried to transform so his friends were probably really concerned. It was good to see the mare in one piece as well but he still remembered what Starlight Glimmer said.

"I heard you joined this town, is that true?" The stallion asked.

Fluttershy released the stallion from her hug and explained. "Oh, no! This was all a plan from the other! I had to trick everypony and let them think that I joined them so that I could find our Cutie Marks," she said.

Star Twinkle let out a relieved sigh. He felt bad to think that Fluttershy would just abandon his friends. "But wait, why are you here then? Aren't our Cutie Marks in this cave?" He asked confused.

"Yes, that's what I thought too," Fluttershy replied. "But I just saw how Double Diamond brought our Cutie Marks in here, in this house," she explained.

"I see," Star Twinkle said. "That must have been the one who knocked on the door just a few minutes ago," he figured while he rubbed his chin. "Why would she want our Cutie Marks specifically that close though?" He then asked.

But Fluttershy knew the answer. "Starlight Glimmer thinks that Twilight's Cutie Mark is very valuable because it belonged to a princess. She also thinks that yours is special. After all, another Cutie Marks appeared on your flank after it got removed," she pointed out while she looked at the stallion's flank confused. Star Twinkle would like to explain that if he could but that was not possible. It wasn't as if the two had any time to talk about this anyway.

There was also some more information that she shared with Star Twinkle. Once he listened to it, his eyes widened in surprise. "Are you sure?" He asked, causing Fluttershy to nod in response. This information gave Star Twinkle an idea of how to get out of this situation. "If what you say is true, then we can all turn things around in our favor,"

Star Twinkle shared his plan with Fluttershy and the mare agreed that it could work if everything went well. Fluttershy had to stay in a room in Starlight Glimmer's house on the second floor just like Star Twinkle. That was probably so that the Unicorn could keep a close eye on her. That means that Fluttershy could not spend too much time in this room now and had to return soon.

But Star Twinkle explained the whole plan already and made sure to be ready to play his part. Everything was already set and all he had to do was wait for the next day...

The next morning...

"Good morning!" Starlight Glimmer greeted in a singing voice. Her enthusiasm, however, was greeted with a glare from Star Twinkle. "Let me guess, you still don't want to join our community?" She asked with a smile on her face. The stallion didn't reply and Starlight Glimmer just turned around and walked towards the door to leave the room. "Well, I suppose I will check up on your friends. Maybe one of them decided to join us just like Fluttershy," she said confidently before she closed the door and locked it behind her.

As soon as the mare was gone, Star Twinkle began to smile. "I have a good guess that this will not be the case," he said before he revealed a key that he was hiding under his body. It was the key to the collar around his neck. There was a keyhole on it and the key fitted perfectly into it, causing him to remove the chain and free himself again. "The first part of the plan was a success!" He said cheerfully before he walked up to the door at the end of the room. The key also fitted right inside the keyhole of the door and Star Twinkle was able to leave now.

"Now for part two of my plan,"

Meanwhile...

All of the citizens gathered in front of a certain house in town. Starlight Glimmer joined them soon and everypony quickly got excited. "I've got a good feeling about today!" She said happily before she opened the door of the house and let out the ponies who were inside.

It was Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, who stepped out of the house. All of them looking a little bit more colorless and with equal signs on their flanks. This is where they had been after the incident at the Cutie Mark Vault. Starlight Glimmer locked them up until they would admit that life without a Cutie Mark is a better decision.

"So, do any of you have anything you'd like to say?" Starlight Glimmer asked with high expectations but all she got was silence and glares from the girls. "Aw, pity," the mare said with a frown on her face. "Well, let's try this again tomorrow, shall we? No new friends today, I'm afraid!" She said before she was about to lock the door again.

But Fluttershy was interrupting her."Wait! I'd like to lock them in," she said.

It was an attempt to get Starlight to trust her and it worked like a charm. "Marvelous, Fluttershy! That's the spirit! Party Favor, will you join us, please?"

Immediately, Party Flavor came running out of the house and dropped to his knees. He was kept in this house because he admitted telling Twilight and the others about the Cutie Mark Vault in order to save Night Glider and Sugar Belle. But judging how the stallion dropped on his knees he highly regretted this. "I'm sorry, Starlight! I'm sorry, everypony! I've seen the error of my ways! I never want to look at my cutie mark again!"

Hearing that, really made Starlight Glimmer happy, as well as the rest of the town who all cheered in response. "It seems there's a cause for celebration after all!" The Unicorn mare announced.

"They tried to break me!" Party Favor said. "They wouldn't stop talking about how different they are, and that somehow makes their friendship stronger!"

"Such backward thinking," Starlight Glimmer said in disgust.

"But I didn't listen! I knew what they were up to, and I didn't listen!" Party Favor said proudly, which made Twilight and her friends just shake their heads since they actually tried to help him.

"Well done, Party Favor! We welcome you back with open hooves!" Starlight Glimmer said happily.

In the meantime, Fluttershy walked up to Starlight and the rest of the town. "Um, Starlight? I think we might have one more friend joining us today," she said much to everyponies surprise.

The one she was talking about was Twilight. As soon as the town realized that, they could only gasp in surprise. Of course, hearing that the Princess of Friendship was about to join their little town got them all really excited.

Starlight Glimmer, however, was a little suspicious. "Is this true?" She asked.

Twilight walked slowly up to Starlight. "I-I think so. But I just want to be sure. If I agree to leave my cutie mark in the vault, I'll really be happier?" She asked in conformation.

"Just look around!" Starlight said as she pointed at everypony behind her. "Equality has given us more happiness than you've ever known!"

"And you wouldn't let me just live here in the village with my old cutie mark?" Twilight asked.

"Out of the question," Starlight Glimmer quickly replied. "A pony with a different cutie mark in our midst would destroy our entire philosophy. We are all equal here!" She said proudly which earned her the agreement of everypony in town.

This exactly what the group wanted to hear. Starlight saw how Twilight formed a victorious smile on her face and got even more suspicious now. But it seemed to be too late, the plan that Star Twinkle came up with, was about to be executed.

"Then how do you explain this?!" Fluttershy said as she was flying up in the air. She took the opportunity to grab a bucket filled with water and splashed it right at Starlight. The information that she gave Star Twinkle was that Starlight Glimmer's "Cutie Mark" was just painted on and water should be able to wash it away and expose her.

Unfortunately, Starlight Glimmer managed to jump to the side and barely dodged the water, leaving Fluttershy in shock.

"I knew you couldn't be trusted!" Starlight Glimmer said angrily towards the mare. What she didn't notice however was how some water drops managed to get on her flank, washing away the equal sign a bit. Party Favor noticed that as well and used a towel to dry Starlight Glimmer up again, much to her shock. "No! Get away!" She said once she realized what was happening.

But it was too late. A Cutie Mark was clearly visible on her flank now, a purple and white star with two two-toned blue glimmering streams instead of an equal sign. The mare desperately tried to hide her Cutie Mark with her tail but the damage was already done and every villager looked at her in shock. "Wha... What are you looking at?! They're the problem, not me!" She said, trying to get out of this situation again.

"How could you?" Party Favor asked in shock before tears of disappointment started to fill his eyes.

"You said cutie marks were evil! You said special talents led to pain and heartache!" Double Diamond said.

"They do! Don't you see?! Look at them!" Starlight replied, again, trying to put the blame at Twilight and the others.

But it was too late. It was exactly like Star Twinkle expected. If the rest of the town would know how Starlight Glimmer still had her Cutie Mark, then their opinions on her would shift and they would finally realize what she was doing to them.

"Then why?" Sugar Belle asked confused. "Why did you take ours and not give up your own?"

"I..." Starlight Glimmer was trying to talk her way out of this situation but she quickly realized that she was in a bad situation and that the villagers wouldn't believe her if she tried to lie now. So she decided to show her true nature. "I had to, you fools! How could I collect your cutie marks without my magic?!"

"But the staff has all the magic we need!" Night Glider pointed out.

"The staff is a piece of wood I found in the desert!" Starlight Glimmer said right into the mare's face angrily. "It's my magic that makes all this possible! You'd all still be living your miserable lives thinking you're better than everypony else if it weren't for my magical abilities! I brought you friendship! I brought you equality! I created harmony!" She said in an angry tone, making no effort to even show any sign of sympathy now.

Needless to say, the villagers got angry at her. "You lied to us!" Double Diamond said, saying it as it really was, and the village couldn't agree more to it.

"So what? E-Everything else I said is true! The only way to be happy is if we're all equal!" Starlight Glimmer said with confidence now. She still believed that what she was doing was the right thing after all.

But the village disagreed. "Except for you," Party Favor said bluntly.

By now Starlight Glimmer had enough and was about to blow a fuse. She charged her magic and aimed at the stallion but luckily Twilight was interrupting her. This caused Starlight to focus on her instead. She and her friends were the ones who ruined all of this after all.

Twilight didn't notice that anger however and tried to talk some sense into Starlight. "Everypony has unique talents and gifts, and when we share them with each other, that's how rea—"

"QUIET!" Starlight Glimmer screamed out in anger, causing Twilight to stop in surprise. It didn't look like at all as if Starlight wanted to listen to any of her friendship speeches.

But whether she wanted to listen to Twilight or not, the whole village was now against her while she was on her own. No one would support her after all the things she did, especially since she didn't see anything wrong with it.

Sugar Belle took it upon herself to speak for the whole village. "You can't have a cutie mark, Starlight! Either we're all equal, or none of us are!" She said with everypony backing her up on that.

Starlight truly believed that equality was the right thing and she could still win everypony back if she would hold true to her own rules. If she really believed that equality would bring happiness then there would be no problem for her to remove her Cutie Marks as well. But that didn't happen. Starlight Glimmer backed away from the town's ponies but soon found herself surrounded by everypony.

She found no other option but to flee. She used her magic to create a little shockwave around her that pushed everypony away. Once she got some room again, she decided to run towards her house to escape from everypony.

It didn't really matter anyone that she ran away. Now there was no one stopping them to go to the Cutie Mark Vault to get their Cutie Marks back. The whole town was about to head over there, as well as Twilight and her friends but they stopped once Fluttershy informed them about one thing.

"Our cutie marks aren't in the vault! They're in there with her!"

"That's where Star Twinkle is too, right?" Twilight asked.

"Yes," Fluttershy replied. "He said he would look for our Cutie Marks and return them to us while we take care of Starlight,"

"Then where is he?" Rainbow Dash asked. "If he is still in there then..."

The girls got a really bad feeling and decided to make haste. Twilight led the way to Starlight's house to make sure that he was safe. She actually figured that she probably knew why he was taking so long and got really worried about him.

A little earlier...

"Where are they!?" Star Twinkle said nervously while he looked all around Starlight Glimmer's house. He was looking for a while now and wasn't able to find the Cutie Marks, even though he looked as fast as he could.

Or at least, he thought he was fast...

Every minute that he looked around in the house, caused him to get weaker and weaker. Simply walking around in the house caused him to pant heavily as if he just ran a whole marathon.

"Just what is going on here!? Why do I feel so weak!? Fluttershy didn't seem nearly as weak to me, and she is very fragile! So why am I so exhausted!?"

The stallion would love to know the answers to all of those questions but he had to focus on his task now. If Fluttershy managed to succeed with his plan then Starlight was probably exposed right now and the village would hopefully band together to stop her. He had to get his friend's Cutie Marks back while they were still somewhere around here.

Then a little wink of luck caused Star Twinkle to finally find the Cutie Marks inside a chest. They were all separately put inside some glass jars. It was a little weird seeing them like this, especially the one that was usually on his flank. He looked at his flank and saw the six stars and looked back at the Cutie Mark in the glass jar.

Again, questions were piling up in his head but he had to make haste and get out of this place. He needed to know what was happening out there.

"Stop right there!" Starlight Glimmer said angrily.

Star Twinkle turned around and saw the mare behind him, pointing her horn at him, ready to shot some magic.

"She is already here!? Did I take really so long!?" Star Twinkle thought in shock.

He was too late. If Starlight Glimmer was here, then that either meant something went wrong or he was simply taking too long. Starlight Glimmer actually answered that question right away.

"I may have lost this village but I will not lose those Cutie Marks!" She said determinedly. The stallion slowly turned around and faced the mare. He could see that she was angry now and he replied with a calm expression on his face. "I assume that your village didn't like how you still were in possession of your Cutie Mark,"

"Of course, they didn't!" She returned angrily. "How could they!? They all cling way too much to their Cutie Mark-filled-lives! They could never understand how much they get hurt by them! Ponies with different talents and different destinies are bound to look down and hurt you! Only if you are equal, you will be able to understand another. True happiness can only come from equality!"

Star Twinkle could hear the frustration in her voice. He wanted to help her. She was so fixated of Cutie Marks being something bad that she completely misses how important it is for somepony, how being different, is what makes it possible to find happiness.

"You know..." Star Twinkle started with an emphasizing tone in his voice. "If I would have come to this village some time ago, I might have agreed with what you say." Starlight got a little surprised to hear that and she allowed the stallion to continue. "I just got my Cutie Mark a while ago and to be honest, having one doesn't make me feel much different than before. And back when I didn't have one, I didn't understand how others were so proud of a simple thing that was on their flanks." The stallion then took a deep breath before he continued. He remembered back the time that he spent in Ponyville with his friends and it made him happy. Still, he formed a serious expression. "But Cutie Marks were important to others and I had no right to look down on them for thinking that they were important. Just like how you don't have the right to take everyponies Cutie Marks away! If you think living without a Cutie Mark is better, then you can do that, but don't force your opinion on others!"

Starlight Glimmer started to growl in anger. Hearing somepony talking down her whole philosophy was really angering her. Star Twinkle figured that talking to her was a waste of time. She did not listen. She had no intention of listening and Star Twinkle figured that nothing he would say is affecting her at all so he needed to do something to get out of this situation.

He came up with a plan that just might work. All he had to do was teleport himself out of this house with the Cutie Marks. It would only take a second. His plan was a success and that meant that his friends were free. They must have been outside somewhere. Even if he passed out right after transforming into a Unicorn and teleporting himself out, he could at least buy some time and get the Cutie Marks in reach of his friends. He had to trust them to take care of Starlight. It was the only thing he could do now.

Just when he had the plan ready, the stallion transformed into a Unicorn, which again surprised Starlight enough that she forgot to attack. "Now I just..." Star Twinkle thought while he managed to get the jars covered in his magic aura. He now just needed to use a teleport spell. He didn't need to teleport too far, just a few meters, outside of this wall. "Come on...come on..." Star Twinkle thought while his breathing became more and more unstable. Everything became a blur. He could barely see anything. He knew how to use a teleport spell, he wasn't good at it but he could use it fairly well. He just needed to teleport away a little. "Just a little..."

POFF!

Star Twinkle's horn disappeared again. The stallion blacked out and collapsed to the ground before he could do anything.

Starlight Glimmer didn't know what happened just now and she actually couldn't care less now because she could hear how Twilight and her friends were at the front door. She acted quickly and revealed a secret staircase under her bed. She levitated the jars with the Element's of Harmony along with her and used her magic to make a rope appear. She used that rope to tie up Star Twinkle and levitated him with her as well.

"I don't know what the deal is with you and why you are so special but you probably could get me out of here if things get worse," she said before she walked down the staircase and exited her house.

The staircase ended up leading her outside of town. The mare knew where she should go in order to escape everypony. Equipped with a cart, that was hidden inside that exit she carried the jars with the Cutie Marks and Star Twinkle along a mountain path. Her goal was clear, she just needed to reach the caves in the mountains, there was a whole network of the cave up there. Nopony would be able to find her there.

Unfortunately for her, she could see how Cutie Marks was flying up at the sky and returned to their rightful owners. That meant that she had not much time left to escape since everypony would come after her.

And just after she was thinking that some familiar ponies were on her tail already. It was Double Diamond, Party Favor, Night Glider, and Sugar Belle, all of them having a lot more color in their manes and coats now and all of them equipped with their Cutie Marks. The four of them were followed by Twilight and her friends, who could not move faster because they were still left weakened with their removed Cutie Marks.

As the four town ponies got closer, however, Starlight Glimmer decided to fight them off. "Are you all so willing to give up everything because of these strangers?!" She said before she shot at a little hill, causing the snow to fall down on Night Glider, stopping her in her chase.

"We gave up everything for you because we thought you were our friend!" Sugar Belle said in disappointment while she continued the chase. She used some of the snow next to her and formed a pie out of it and threw it at Starlight. "My newest recipe – snow pie!"

The pie was about to hit the mare but she used her magic to catch the pie and threw it right back at Sugar Belle, knocking her off from her hooves. The mare then crossed a little bridge and destroyed it behind her, making it harder for her chasers to catch up to her.

But Party Favor was prepared for that. His special talent involved balloons and he was good at making stuff out of them. He quickly used some balloons to make a new bridge so that everypony could cross it.

Starlight Glimmer got a little frustrated with how everypony caught up to her but she wasn't giving up anytime soon. She was about to reach the caves after all. However, Double Diamond came skiing towards her and blocked her path by letting some snow drop in front of her. Party Flavor and Sugar Belle were also approaching the mare from behind. Still, Starlight Glimmer didn't stop and used her magic to push them away with a shockwave, causing all of the ponies to fall to the side, off from the mountain path. Night Glider was the only one who was able to fly and she managed to save herself and Sugar Belle by carrying her with her hooves. Party Flavor saved himself and Double Diamond by blowing up a huge balloon that would carry them slowly to the ground.

There was no time for Starlight Glimmer to even process what she did to her previous friends, all she thought about was getting away from those ponies, it didn't matter where to, as long as she was able to flee for good. She would think about what to do with the Cutie Marks and Star Twinkle after that.

And she was about to succeed...

"I'm almost there!" She said as she approached the entrance of the cave with a victorious smile on her face. Once she would get inside that cave, nopony would be able to find her anymore. She won.

But then...

Starlight Glimmer's eyes widened as she continued to approach the entrance of the cave. "Who are you!?" Starlight Glimmer said annoyed.

Somepony blocked her path and stood directly in front of the cave, somepony she didn't know. There was no possibility for her to even know who it was, in fact. It was a pony wearing black armor. The same pony that once appeared before Star Twinkle after Twilight's coronation. The same pony that attacked him.

"Move!" Starlight Glimmer demanded angrily but the pony in front of her didn't budge. Starlight, however, had no plans to stop now. If this pony wanted to get run over so badly, then there was no way that she would stop now. She clenched her teeth and even accelerated to scare the pony away.

But that didn't happen. The armored pony shot a magic beam towards the mare, to the left wheel of her cart to be exact. It caused the cart to get damaged and it began to start shaking as she pulled it behind her. Soon, Starlight lost control and she crashed into a nearby mountain wall next to the cave entrance.

The mare didn't get hurt too much but she realized how the jars got broken in this crash. The Cutie Marks of Twilight and her friends got released and flew back to their original owners. Starlight Glimmer could only watch her plans crumble away in front of her. And it was all because of that pony in the black armor. The armored pony did not seem to care about what she was doing now and instead looked at Star Twinkle silently. It was almost as if the eyes of the pony were focused on him for some strange reason.

Starlight was about to repay this pony for what it had done just now but she soon heard the voices of the ones who chased her and turned around for a moment. In this very short moment, the armored pony ran away without a word, much to Starlight's frustration who was boiling in anger right about now.

The mare had to let out some anger on somepony, and her "friends" were just the right ones now. They didn't even know what happened but they saw Starlight aiming at them and got scared. Then, Starlight fired a magic shot at the four ponies. But luckily, they were saved by Twilight, who put up a shield in front of them. The Alicorn Princess had her Cutie Mark and her special talent back and easily managed to block Starlight's attack, leaving her in complete shock.

Starlight Glimmer stopped attacking since she figured she wasn't going too far with it. "Wh– I studied that spell for years! How can you—"

"I studied magic for years too!" Twilight replied. "But what I didn't know then was that studying could only take me so far. Each of my friends has taught me something different about myself! It was their unique gifts and passions and personalities that helped bring out the magic inside of me! I never would have learned that I represent the element of magic without them! And I certainly wouldn't be here to stop you now!" She said with her friends standing next to her.

But Starlight Glimmer was unimpressed by the princess's words. "Spare me your sentimental nonsense! Does every single one of you have a stupid speech like this ready!?" She said annoyed, clearly referring to Star Twinkle from before. "I gave these ponies real friendships they never could've had otherwise!"

"How do you know that?!" Double Diamond said while he, Night Glider, Sugar Belle, and Party Favor walked up to the ponies as well. "You never even gave us a chance!"

Starlight realized that she was outmatched now. Twilight alone was enough to take care of her when it came to magical power now and Starlight knew that as well. But despite that, she started charging some of her magic and was about to attack. A bright light appeared around her, blinding everypony and giving her enough chance to run inside the cave to escape.

"She's getting away!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"We'll never find her in there!" Double Diamond added.

But Twilight didn't plan on following her and advised the others to stay outside as well "We just have to hope that when she's had a chance to think it over, she realizes that you all have taught her something,"

"It's you who have taught us something," Party Favor said. "We all came to this village because we were searching for something missing from our lives. We thought Starlight had given it to us, but now... now it seems it was in front of us all along. It's us!" He shared happily.

"Does that mean you'll stay in the village?" Twilight asked.

"It's our home. I'm not going anywhere," Night Glider said.

"This is a chance for all of us to get to know each other again for the very first time!" Double Diamond said as he looked over to his friends.

"And I finally have a chance to bake something besides terrible muffins!" Sugar Belle said excitedly before everypony started laughing cheerfully.

It was ironic that Starlight Glimmer tried to show everypony in town true friendship even though those ponies already seemed to be good friends. They worked together to stop Starlight and were highly successful with it. All they could hope is that Starlight Glimmer would understand her mistakes.

As the group was laughing, however, Applejack was looking really scared about something. While the group faced of against starlight Glimmer, the mare decided to take care of Star Twinkle, who was still tied up and unconscious. After Starlight Glimmer's cart crashed, Star Twinkle fell out of it but luckily, he wasn't hurt at first sight but now Applejack noticed something wrong about him and walked up to the others.

"I don't know what is happening to him but I think it is serious!" She said nervously.

The group quickly got worried and rushed to his side. What they saw shocked them. Star Twinkle was still unconscious but his body was looking really weird. It glowed weakly and occasionally you could see through his body.

"What is happening to him!? Why can we see through him!?" Rainbow Dash asked in concern.

"Is he hurt!? Did Starlight do something to him!?" Fluttershy asked as tears started to form in her eyes.

Twilight, while also getting really concerned about her friend was carefully inspecting him and noticed how something was still off. "He still has that one Cutie Mark," she figured as she pointed towards his flank which still showed six white stars. "Didn't he get his original Cutie Mark back!?"

Pinkie Pie stormed over to the crashed cart and hastily looked all over until she returned with something. "Here, his Cutie Mark is still in here!" She said as she showed the jar with his Cutie Mark inside of it.

"Then let's return it to him!" Rarity said in concern.

Twilight used her magic to levitate the jar next to Star Twinkle and opened it. The Cutie Mark flew right towards Star Twinkle's flank, replacing the six stars with one big one again. The group waited and hoped everything would return to normal again.

Suddenly, Star Twinkle's eyes popped open and he sat up. "What happened!?" He said in shock, much to everyponies surprise. He looked at his hooves and figured that he was feeling okay again, better than ever in fact. He was relieved but then he looked over to his friends who all looked at him funny. "Why do you all look so concerned?" He asked confused. "What happened?"

Twilight let out a sigh and got relieved as well. "How do you feel?" She then asked.

"Good," Star Twinkle replied, much to his own confusion. He realized that his Cutie Mark was back again and that Starlight Glimmer was taken care of. "I feel great, to be honest," he added.

"Are you sure?" Pinkie Pie asked casually. "You looked pretty-" but then Twilight poked her in the sides. She most likely didn't want Star Twinkle to get worried about another thing.

Luckily, something happened that would distract them from all of this. The Cutie Marks from the six mares started to glow.

"I'll never get used to that," Applejack said with slight discomfort in her voice.

"I think it's divine," Rarity said happily.

"Does that mean that the map is calling us somewhere else?" Fluttershy asked, which was a pretty good question right now.

"I have a feeling it means our work here is done," Twilight figured.

Of course, that only raised one question for Star Twinkle. "Does that mean we can go home?"

But Party Favor didn't want that to happen. "You can't just leave yet! We have to celebrate all of this!"

"Yeah!" Night Glider added. "Now that everypony got their Cutie Marks back, I bet everyone wants to let off some steam!"

"And I have to make you some proper sweets!" Sugar Belle added happily.

The seven ponies looked at each other with smiles on their faces. "I guess we can stay a little longer before we return," Twilight suggested. The group quickly agreed on that, even Star Twinkle. He was just happy that everything was resolved and that the hard part of their trip was over.

As the ponies walked back towards town, Applejack looked over to Twilight and realized something.

"Looks like you were right, Twilight. The map did have a reason for sendin' us here. We brought real friendship to these here ponies. Guess that's why you're the Princess of Friendship,"

"But the map didn't send me. It sent us," Twilight corrected. "You're a part of me, all of you. And there's no doubt you're a part of my mission to spread friendship too," she explained.

While Star Twinkle was still feeling left out in this situation, he did want to help Twilight and their friends spreading friendship across Equestria, even if the map didn't order him to this place. He figured that there would still be things coming towards him that he would not understand, as usual, just like this different Cutie Mark on his flank but he wanted to help his friends and is he had to endure some confusion on the way, then that is just how it is. He just had to accept that he was somehow different, whether he wanted or not.

The group walked back to town and the four town ponies already got everypony excited about the party that would come up soon. But unbeknownst to them is that somepony was watching them return to town.

The pony in the black armor...

Later...

After the trip to Our Town, the pony in the black armor waited in a forest and waited for something, or rather someone. The armored pony shifted its head around to the left and quickly saw someone walking approaching it.

It was a Unicorn stallion with a red coat and a white coat that had red stripes in it. He had also red eyes and an open book as a Cutie Mark. It was Arcana, the pony that Summershine met a while ago on his travels, the pony that he was looking for all this time.

"You're back," the pony said with a bitter tone in his voice. "I hope you had a good reason to vanish like this,"

The pony in the black armor was explaining everything to Arcana and soon the Unicorn calmed down again. "I see. Danger does seem to be really close to Star Twinkle as of recently. That may be because he hangs around with those other ponies constantly," he said while he tipped his chin. "If something happens to him, however, it could really ruin everything that I set up,"

The armored pony only listened and didn't say a word.

Arcana looked over to the pony. "It was good that you kept a close look at him. He needs to be well until...we take care of him," he then looked over to the pony in the armor with a smile on his face. "Or rather, until you take care of him,"

The stallion walked away from the pony. "As if that wasn't enough, that annoyance called Summershine is also out there. I think we actually have to do something about him before we advance. And if that isn't working, then we just have to execute our plan when the time is right,"

Again, the pony in the black armor only listened and didn't say a word. Arcana was used to the pony not saying much towards him. He was okay with it though.

"That means that we soon have to go to Ponyville. I bet you are excited to see your hometown again after such a long time,"

The pony didn't respond but Arcana could feel that there was a concerned look beneath that helmet.

And with those last words, the two ponies walked into the unknown, most likely preparing their next move that would endanger Equestria in some way.

Author's Note:

Things got a little bit serious in this chapter but everything went well. Still, things could end up really bad in the future from the looks of it. Maybe? Of course, two characters seem to stir up some danger so let's just hope that our main characters are up to it.

By the way, after rewatching the episode, I noticed that Rainbow Dash was saying an awful lot stuff like "She's getting away!". I just thought that was kind of weird.

With all that said, please consider leaving a review or some other kind of feedback and make sure to follow me or this story to always be up to date with everything that I upload.

See you all in the next chapter.
Bye Bye ^^.

Reading Order:

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 1 + 2(Chapter 1 - 53)

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Diary of The Storm Wings

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 3(Chapter 54 - 65)

Equestria Girls - The Legend of Friendship

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Outcasts

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 4(Chapter 66 - 91)

Rainbow Rocks - The Legend of Friendship

The Legend of Friendship - Harmony

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 5(Chapter 92 - 117)