Returning Home

by SandyShores

Chapter 7- Where It All Started

“Hurry now everypony, not too much further. It’s just up this ridge,” Starlight sang with regality in her voice as she led her following up the hillside towards a cave she had found a few weeks earlier.

After convincing her small following to leave behind their village and come with her, they settled on a flat patch of land, perfect for growing crops and setting up water wells. Progress in the small town started slow, everypony lived in small tents, but soon trips were made and carts filled with construction material were brought in carried by two ponies pulling a wagon at a time.

Each of the small cottages took about a week to build, but after a few months Starlight had her perfect town. For a while everything had gone pretty smoothly as well, but one pony, a pegasus named Nimble Bolt, wanted to leave. Starlight believed it was because she had been too hostile to the pegasus and invited her to stay the night in her cottage.

That night, Starlight convinced her to stay a little longer in the town, but she knew her dream town would begin to crumble if ponies wanted to leave. She figured if one pony were to leave the rest may not be far behind and then she would be left with nobody, once again. Only now she had a plan to prevent that from happening.

Starlight brushed aside some of the shrubs and adorned the view of the deep blue cave, leading the rest into its view. “Isn’t it specular?” Her voice carried her excitement to her followers.

Everypony responded with a gaze of awe as they slowly stepped toward the cave.

“Well, come on everypony!” she sang to her awestruck following.

She made her way into the main chamber and stood in front of the crowd. “This is the Staff of Sameness that I was telling you all about,” she cheerfully announced as she presented the glorious staff, later revealed to be just an ordinary, but pretty, piece of wood she found in the forest. “It was one of Meadowbrook’s nine magically enchanted items. With this we can finally live as equals.”

“So, who’s ready to go first?” she asked with the familiar excitable hostility.

Everypony stood there, while they were excited with the prospect of losing the cutie marks that Starlight had long ago convinced them to hate, there was still a strange air of opposition. It was the most important decision they would ever make in their lives. Starlight later thought about how, if Double Diamond had been a part of her town that early, he would’ve been the first to lose his mark without question.

Starlight, noticing the tension of the group, decided to volunteer some pony. “Sugar Belle?” The purple baker shot her head up at the sound of her name. “How would you like to be first to truly let go of your former limitations?”

Sugar Belle looked at her flank, she wanted to give up her mark, but she still found it difficult to fully embrace the change. She looked back to Starlight. “I…I…Uh.”

“Yes?” Starlight spoke in a familiar, menacing tone.

Sugar Belle cleared her throat to speak. “I…”

“I want to be first!”

The outburst caused Starlight to spin around and face the pony who caused it. “Well now everypony, it seems Ember Shine will have the honor of being first to lose his mark.”

The green earth pony stepped forward anxiously to Starlight.

“I’m so, very proud of you,” she said lifting his chin to make eye contact with him.

“Does…does it hurt at all?” he asked the simple question in a quiet reserved tone.

Starlight, who was standing on slightly higher ground in front of everypony, looked down on Ember. “Oh dear, the cutie unmarking is a beautiful experience. Once your mark is gone it will never cause you any pain again. Everything that has held you back will disappear in an instant and we can all finally be equal.”

Ember Shine nodded and closed his eyes, squeezing them shut tightly as Starlight raised her staff and caused a brilliant flash of light, which illuminated the cave like a flash of lightning. In a instance it was over and Starlight guided his cutie mark to the wall and pushed in one of the glass cases.

Ember’s brilliant emerald green coat suddenly began to mute its color, becoming a much duller green and his flank which sat bare for a moment suddenly presented everyone with a grey equals sign. Starlight took note of the mark she’d have to replicate later.

He stood silent and expressionless for a moment before Sugar Belle, who was next to him, spoke up. “How…how do you feel?”

He turned to her with the same blank expression. Everypony watched on in curiosity, including Starlight, and wondered how the earth pony felt losing his mark. He turned to look at his flank for a second and then back to Sugar Belle. A smile began to emerge on his face before it was an absolute ear-to-ear grin.

“Why, I feel…alive,” he said as Starlight breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s as if I'm seeing the world for the first time. Oh, I can’t wait until everypony gets to experience this feeling.”

————————

As Starlight came to her senses, she took off in a dead sprint towards the cave. The pieces all began to come together and she finally understood what they were doing. It all added up, and she was the only one who could stop them, she just prayed to Celestia that she wasn’t too late.

She felt wrong going off without telling any pony, but she knew it was something she had to do alone. She wondered if Night Glider would have even believed her anyway.

As she raced to the cave, she began to think about all the northern ponies and what they were doing, not just Double Diamond and Ember, but all the other ponies she was unable to see. She wondered about the other ponies in the town. Had she really been so dense as to miss all the signs?

Then, she began to wonder once more about Flame Heart. It didn’t make sense for her to have to been kidnapped now so Starlight wondered what had happened to her. She began to feel guilty nearly accusing him of such a heinous act, perhaps Double Diamond truly didn’t know.

——————————-

“Alright everypony, push harder!”

Double Diamond shouted the order as he and five of the northern ponies dug their heels into the dirt and pushed, with all of their might, against the large enslaved boulder, the only thing which separated them from the cave.

“It’s no use, it’s not gonna budge!” s pony named Lucky Stars shouted out as he collapsed onto the rock. The rest of the pushing ponies withdrew from their positions, allowing themselves to draw in large gulps of air.

“Whisper Leaf? Speed Rush? Think you could lend us a hoof?”

The two ponies obliged and trotted over to Double Diamond. The rest regained their breath and prepared themselves for another push. The now seven ponies began to press against the boulder once more.

“Okay, everypony, just…a…little…more!” After one great final thrust the massive boulder gave in and rolled just a couple of feet, but got caught under a small downward slope and continued to roll before coming to a rest just a few feet aside. The cave now stood completely open, for the first time in many months.

The seven ponies all took another minute to regain their wits, after all, they were all relatively weaker when compared to the southern ponies.

After a moment, the northern ponies all set off to venture into the cave. Double Diamond followed, picking up one of the several lanterns brought along to illuminate the cavern.

He stepped inside and was immediately hit with the cave air which was cool and humid. He stopped for a moment so he could savor the long lost smells of the cave. As he and the others walked along, he looked up in awe around the spacious cavern where he once felt so at home.

He trotted to the back and held up his lantern, revealing the large glass wall with slots for cutie marks, which now of course sat as empty and hollow as a log. He looked up in admiration to the now shattered glass wall. He walked up to one of the pockets in the wall and brought a hoof to it, running it against the edge of the slot. He knew it well as it held his own cutie mark.

He continued to sweep his gaze around the towering wall of glass, looking to each individual empty slot. As he glanced around, he noticed a small piece of wood on the floor of the cave, tucked over in the corner. He trotted over to it slowly and stood over it as he looked at the stick he knew very well.

He set down the lantern and picked up the once great and powerful staff. He looked it over, remembering it’s power as he’d witnessed first hand. He gazed at it with great appreciation for a moment before he reminded himself it was just an ordinary stick and he dropped it carelessly, banishing it back to the floor.

He regained his composure and walked out to address the northern crowd standing just where Starlight had on so many occasions. “This is it everypony, tonight is finally the night. I know everyone was scared when Starlight showed up in our town, but Ember has been working tirelessly and we believe the potion is now complete.”

The northern ponies all looked to Double Diamond as Ember trotted up to him and handed him the potion which glowed red in large pulses.

“Now, does anypony have any questions?” He paused. “…Anyone at all?”

Suddenly, a shy earth pony with a mane which matched a summer’s sunset raised her hoof ever so slowly.

“Ah yes, Flame Heart?”

The shy pony stepped forward revealing herself in the small crowd. “I’m just not sure if I can go through with this, I mean, we’ve all been through a lot maybe we’re being too hasty.”

Double Diamond walked up the shy earth pony. “I know we’ve had it rough, and believe me, when the Princess stopped Starlight I was the happiest pony in town, but I saw their system, and I saw their future and I wasn’t compatible with it. I know you feel the same way.” He lifted his head and addressed the crowd. “I know everypony here feels the same way.” He turned back to Flame Heart. “We just believe that we were happier living the old way, but it’s certainly not for everypony, we know that.”

“Wh…what about me?” She paused to swallow a gulp of air. “What if I didn’t want to go through with it?”

“Well, while we would be saddened by your decision, we’re certainly not about to keep you here against your will. If you wish to leave by all means, you are free to, but I urge you to do it now, because soon it will be too late.”

Flame Heart looked down for a minute, contemplating her entire future in mere seconds.

Whisper Leaf broke the silence which filled the cave, speaking directly to Flame Heart. “But…if you do stay, we will once again live in total harmony, everypony will be equal and things will go back to the way they were.” She paused turning to address the small crowd herself. “We will all be happy again.”

Flame Heart picked up her head and looked to Whisper, a smile began to reveal itself on her face as she turned back to Double Diamond who looked at her with anticipation. She announced her decision with a simple nod, ready to embrace her former life.

Double Diamond smiled himself. “And I thought I was the only one crazy enough to find myself missing the old ways, but together we can live once more as one community.”

He brought his hoof to the top of the glass bottle and popped off the cork plug with a satisfying pop.

Before he took a sip from the glowing potion he addressed the crowd one last time.

“Though we see the end of this chapter of our lives, we embark on a new adventure, together we can and will overcome anything. When we leave this cave, do not worry or fear, though we retire from the town we once built, the town which we called home for years, we will search out another land, we will rebuild, and so long as we are together, we will be returning home.”

——————-

Starlight galloped up the hill with such speed that she nearly tripped on several branches and rocks. She didn’t care though, all that mattered now was stopping the northern ponies from doing exactly what she feared.

She tackled her way through the bushes and looked up at the cave which she knew so well. She stopped for a moment, noticing the boulder which sat aside from the cave, and as her eyes began to readjust she noticed a very faint light coming from within the cave. The faint glow just confirmed that ponies were inside.

Starlight realized she had to be careful, she still wasn’t sure how they would react to seeing her and she wanted to brace herself.

She stepped slowly into the cave, allowing the light of her horn to dim. As she began to walk, she started to hear faint chatter coming from the main chamber. Her heart began to pound faster and faster, but she lifted her head and continued her approach.

Each step echoed off the walls as Starlight approached the main chamber. The muffled sound coming from within became clearer, until she was able to make out the end of Double Diamond’s speech.

“…we will search out another land, we will rebuild, and so long as we are together, we will be returning home.”

Starlight’s eyes went wide as she shot off like a bolt of lightning into the main chamber and watched as Double Diamond brought the fiendish red potion to his lips allowing a small sip of the foul brew.

“No!” Starlight shrieked to Double Diamond as she ran through the crowd of stunned ponies.

In the one moment where Double Diamond looked down he saw Starlight’s familiar face as she raced to him with panic. Their eyes met for just a second and Starlight knew she was too late.

Suddenly, Double Diamond began to glow, his body was consumed in ball of blinding energy which grew for a second. There was another large flash of light which illuminated the cave and in just seconds it was over. Double Diamond nearly lost his footing, but caught himself. In a rush of panic and excitement, he snapped his head around to his flank.

To his delight and to Starlight’s horror, his flank no longer bore his familiar snowflake cutie mark but rather the well-known grey cutie mark.

He turned his head back around to face the crowd and while looking to Starlight, a smile began to reveal itself on his face.

“I feel....complete again.”

Comments

[twilysparklez]

Oh, Oh dear.

[zalla661]

7281213 Oh dear indeed. I can't believe what DD just did.

[MagicPopcorn]

How will Starlight fix this?

[Da Fennec]

7281361 I can believe it. This is part of why addictions are so nasty. They believe thigns were better before and will do anything to bring those times back

[zalla661]

7281478 I know! But when you read about it, I know its totally meta, but it drives me nuts knowing that it'll cause some sort of hardship down the line. You know what I mean? Even if it's a story you can't help but think, 'why did you do that?' like in movies when you know whats going to happen and tell the character not to do it knowing its what they're going to do? Did that make any sense at all?

[zalla661]

7281445 Magic!

mlpforums.com/uploads/post_images/img-2914880-1-mlfw3410_medium.jpg

pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw800_1304180564355.jpg

[Skye Mist]

Oh CRAP!

[Emperor]

Ha, looks like I called it. They were making a potion to duplicate the effects of Starlight's spell, since it's not like she decided to teach it to anypony anyways. I wonder if it has as many side-effects as the Equalisation spell did, or if it will leave them with their vitality fully intact.

Looks like that's where our missing pony went to, hiding out in the North side.