Starlight Glimmer was the head of a village where ponies give up their cutie marks in pursuit of friendship and equality. Now, Starlight's farce has been revealed, and her villagers decide she must suffer for her deception.
Starlight Glimmer had all she could want. She was in charge of a village of ponies, and she had convinced them all to give up their cutie marks in pursuit of what she believed was true and irrefutable friendship.
Now though, the house of cards has come crashing down. Starlight is revealed as a fraud and captured by the element bearers. Her villagers reclaim their cutie marks and renounce her beliefs. However, one of the ponies formerly living under her rules decides she needs a punishment most befitting of her crime.
This story is part of a group of stories I'm calling the Taste of Their Own Medicine series. In all of these stories, the message is clear: It ain't so great to have a taste of your own medicine.
Starlight Glimmer couldn't believe it. "How could those six mares ruin this all for me?1" she cursed to herself as she snuck through the caves outside her village.
Or at least, it had been her village.
She'd started it some time ago, having convinced a few stallions and mares of her ideology. She led them to this valley and there they started Our Town. They worked hard together and erected the first few houses and farms. Now, there were two rows of houses, with no one house different from another. The food grown by each of the farmers was no better than the other, and the jobs the ponies did were no more important than another pony's job. It was the mare's dream come true.
Then those six mares had to show up. They said something about a map leading them here, and Starlight became quite enthused. She showed them the town and the cutie mark vault, and then she used her spell on them, taking their marks and replacing them with her trademark equal sign. So sure was she of her victory that she failed to notice the six working against her.
The yellow one, whom she suspected thought more closely to her ideology, claimed she wanted to live with them in equality. She had left her go to see the town, but instead, she was a spy, and attempted to reveal the truth about Starlight Glimmer: she hadn't given up her own cutie mark.
When that revelation came about, the entire town demanded their cutie marks back. Starlight pleaded to them that her keeping her own cutie mark was a necessity, but the ponies wouldn't listen to her. The six mares had convinced the town of the crazy notion that ponies with completely different cutie marks could be friends with one another.
The notion made Starlight's stomach turn.
Shortly after the truth had been exposed, one of the ponies in the village attacked the cutie mark vault and freed all of the marks held within it. Everypony got their special talents back and began using them against her, forcing her into these caves. Now, she was trying to make her escape from her former town and the six mares who had effectively ruined her life.
"There she is!"
Starlight froze and looked towards the voice. It was the blue pegasus mare from the group of six. As soon as she recognized her, Starlight scowled.
"Stay away from me!" Starlight shouted as she shot a bolt of magic at the mare, which was promptly dodged and allowed to slam into the cave wall behind the mare. Before Starlight could get off another shot, the blue pegasus slammed into her and pinned her to the ground.
"Girls!" the pegasus called to her friends. "I have her!"
Starlight took the opportunity to counter the pegasus while she was distracted. A burst of energy into the pony's stomach, and the blue mare was sent backwards into a wall.
With the pony incapacitated momentarily, Starlight made a move to try and escape...
...only for a blast of magic to strike her in the back and paralyze her temporarily.
"Dash, are you okay?" A concerned voice called out.
Starlight knew which pony that voice belonged to and seethed. It was the alicorn, the purple one. Apparently, she had been a unicorn before, like Starlight, but had done something and was turned into an alicorn by Princess Celestia. She'd also fought a giant centaur and beat him, and in the process, got a castle, where the map that had sent them here resided.
Using what movement she could muster, Starlight flipper herself over to face the ponies, and she scowled as she saw each one:
The white unicorn with that hoity-toity accent that spoke as if her head was permanently buried inside her flank.
A pink earth pony that had a perpetual case of way too much sugar.
The orange earth pony that spoke like she was a backwoods hillbilly.
The yellow pegasus that snitched on her to the whole town.
The blue pegasus that she'd just blasted in the stomach.
And the purple alicorn, wings and all. She didn't look like Princess Celestia or Luna yet, but assumed she would only need time before her body filled out to alicorn proportions.
After a few moments, Starlight realized that their attention was on the pegasus she'd just attacked, and that this was her best chance at getting away. She made an attempt to stand up and get away, but the most she could manage was rolling around a little and making some grunting sounds.
Unfortunately, those grunting noises got the attention of six ponies, who refocused on her. The white mare scowled at her as she picked her up in her magic. Starlight tried to struggle against the magic grip, but it was no use. Soon enough, the alicorn took over and used her magic to call forth bindings to keep her from running away.
"I didn't want to do this," the purple alicorn says somberly, "but you've left me with no choice."
Starlight wanted to spit, but couldn't make her mouth work to do that. Rather, her response came out sounding strained.
"You took my village!"
The alicorn huffed. "No, I didn't. The ponies you tricked took it back for themselves."
"They were happy!" Starlight protested, regaining some more of her muscle control. "You took that happiness from them!"
"You took it first, you meanie!" the pink mare told her.
Starlight rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. Next thing you're gonna tell me they were happier with their cutie marks than without them."
"They were," the orange mare responds, "and I ain't never knew of ah good reason to lie to anypony before, and especially about somethin' like that, so why did y'all do it?"
Starlight huffed. "I'm done talking."
The six mares looked at each other for a few moments before the alicorn let out a breath she'd been holding.
"Very well," she tells Starlight. "If that's what you want."
The alicorn carried Starlight in her magic as she and her friends left the caves and returned to the small town started by the unicorn.
The ponies back in the village rejoiced at having their cutie marks back. Those with cooking and baking-related cutie marks began preparing a feast. Everypony else was gathered in small groups conversing with one another, the air filled with electricity that came from the excitement everypony was feeling.
To Starlight, it was alien, and offensive. Why did these ponies, who had willingly given up their cutie marks because of the burden it made on their lives, rejoice at their return? The lilac mare seethed as she saw such revelry for the things that she had considered a bane her whole life. Even when she'd gotten her own as a filly, she detested it greatly.
"There she is!" one of the ponies in town shouted as they pointed a hoof in Starlight's direction.
Starlight was snapped from her thoughts as she heard the voice. Her attention turned to a group of ponies that were approaching her and the six mares keeping her prisoner. She recognized them as some of her earliest followers, and each of them had a scowl that would've made a manticore flinch.
"I see your village is getting ready for a celebration," the alicorn pointed out, hoping to distract what could possibly be a lynch mob in the making.
"We are," a stallion in the group answered, "but right now, I think all of us have some choice words for her."
He punctuated his statement with an accusatory hoof pointed straight at Starlight. The lilac mare didn't respond. In truth, she was playing possum. She could feel the effects of the stun spell starting to wear off, and decided that as soon as she had full control of her body again, she would teleport away from the village and go someplace where she could lay low and plot revenge against her captors.
The stallion lowered his hoof and looked back at a mare behind him, giving her a nod. The mare moved in front of him as he stepped back, and Starlight recognized her as the one of the bakers that first came to start the village: Sugar Belle.
"What you've done," she began with a quivering voice, "is one of the most reprehensible things I think anypony has done for centuries, maybe even the worst thing since Princess Luna attacked Princess Celestia as Nightmare Moon."
At this, Starlight rolled her eyes. How could taking a cutie mark that caused such an imbalance among ponies be equally as evil as what Nightmare Moon had tried to do over a thousand years ago?
"You took away our individuality," Sugar Belle continued, "and with it, our sense of self. I could never bake things the way I could before when I had my cutie mark. It didn't matter that I used the same ingredients or followed the same recipes. They never turned out the same!"
Starlight again rolled her eyes, choosing not to respond verbally. If she did, it might tip off the alicorn that she was recovered, and cause her to recast the stun spell; she was a gifted magic user and would likely realize at some point that her spell had worn off.
Sugar Belle went to respond but paused, taking note of the lilac unicorn's lack of empathy. "Y-You really don't care?!" she shouted at Starlight. "All the pain you've caused us by keeping our cutie marks from us, and you couldn't care about that at all, could you?!"
Starlight didn't do anything but glare back at Sugar Belle. In truth, Starlight did feel something at that moment: betrayal. Sugar Belle had been a strong follower of hers even before they founded the village, and was now chastising her.
To see a mare that had stayed with her for so long suddenly go against her?
It took everything for Starlight not to jump up and blast her with a spell strong enough to burn the fur off of her body.
Sugar Belle looked at the ground, her voice sad. "I can't believe it" she said, looking back at Starlight, "After all the time I spent following your ideals, you don't even care or realize how much you've hurt me?"
The anger that Starlight felt about those accusations, and especially who they were coming from, had tipped her over the edge. In a quick motion, Starlight jumped to her hooves and quickly charged a spell intended to cause extreme pain to Sugar Belle.
The spell fizzled out as she was struck in the side by another, the force of impact sending the mare onto her side.
She went to stand up again and paused, realizing that the spell that just hit her was nowhere near as powerful as the one used on her in the caves. She turned to see which pony did it, finding the white unicorn with her horn glowing and a small trail of smoke rising from the end.
"How DARE you try to hurt that mare again!" she shouted in her posh voice.
"Oh, bite me!" Starlight retorted with venom. "She's the one that's hurt me!"
Starlight pointed her hoof accusingly at Sugar Belle. "She was one of the first ponies to embrace the idea of equality, and helped me start this village! She helped me recruit followers and helped this place grow! Everypony here was happy and unburdened by their cutie marks! It was a utopia!"
"No, it wasn't."
Starlight then turned and faced the voice that just spoke up. It was one of the newer stallions to join their cause. He had a magic-related cutie mark like hers, but instead of a wisp of magic, his was a book opened to a page with a spell circle on it.
"Ancient Tome?" she said with confusion.
The stallion stepped forward and glared at Starlight. "This place was as unhappy as it got, Starlight Glimmer."
The mare did flinch a little at hearing her full name; it was a more or less universal sign you were in trouble as a foal.
"Ponies here were never allowed to have the lives they wanted for themselves," Tome continued speaking. "When you took our cutie marks, you took away the very things that made us us. When you took mine, I lost all zeal for studying magic. I was relegated to simple telekinesis and basic conjuring. If I wanted to try something more, I lost any and all desire to do so the minute I thought it. Your spell kept us from being the ponies we were meant to be!"
"That's timber wolf compost and you know it!" Starlight spat at him, not caring at all what the consequences were.
Ancient Tome looked at her with both anger and sadness. "You really don't understand what you've done to us, do you?"
Starlight rolled her eyes. "Of course I do! I've freed you all from the burdens in your life! Can't you see how bad cutie marks are for you?!"
Ancient Tome let out a sigh as he gave a solemn nod to Double Diamond, another pony in the village. The stallion came forward, and on his back was a small glass case, which Starlight recognized right away.
"What? You think I'm afraid?" Starlight spat at Ancient Tome. "Well, I'm not! Go ahead! Do it!"
"Um, T-Twilight, w-what's he g-going to do?" Fluttershy asked, clearly nervous about the events transpiring.
Twilight let out a breath. "I think Ancient Tome wants Starlight to understand exactly what she did to these ponies, and us."
Fluttershy looked at Twilight in shock. "Y-You mean...?"
Twilight noded.
Rarity looked at Twilight with shock as well. "Are you not going to stop this?" she asked her friend.
"No" Twilight answered. "I've heard enough to realize that this may be the only way to teach Starlight that what she was doing here is wrong."
"And doing that same thing to her is somehow justified?!" Rainbow said in disbelief.
"No," Twilight conceded, "but I don't think any other punishment will get the point across to her. Maybe this one will."
Applejack and Pinkie both went to protest, but Twilight stopped them with her hoof. "If it looks like it's not going to work, I'll restore her cutie mark, but for now, I think this might be the best chance at convincing her of her wrongdoing."
"And what if it isn't?" Pinkie shouted at her friend, her mane losing some of its puffiness. "What if she keeps being a great big meanie?!"
Twilight sighed. "Then the princesses will punish her in Canterlot and she'll suffer whatever they decide for her."
"Y-You don't think they'd send her to T-Tartarus, do you?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight looked to the pegasus and frowned. "They might."
As the conversation between the six mares went on, Ancient Tome and Double Diamond approach Starlight. "Last chance for you to apologize" Tome told her as he opened the glass case with his magic.
"The only ponies who need to apologize are all of YOU for betraying ME!"
Ancient Tome looked at her for a moment before he let out a sigh, and closed his eyes. "You have no idea how much it hurts me to do this" he said as he poured magic into the spell.
Starlight was suddenly enveloped in his magic aura, and then felt something pulling against her. She tried to relax herself as much as possible, but the pulling became very painful very quickly, and her body reacted to fight against it. After a few more seconds of pain, she felt something inside herself give way, and a sudden wave of exhaustion overcame her. She fell to the ground and stayed still for a few moments.
As soon as some of her energy returned to her, she looked up to see her cutie mark hovering in the air in Ancient's magic aura. The stallion moved the mark to the glass box Double Diamond was holding, placing it inside and closing the door. He then took the glass case and gave it to Twilight.
"Make sure the princesses know of her crimes," he told the alicorn, "and don't let her have that back until either the princesses say so or she learns her lesson."
Twilight took the box and placed it in her saddlebags. "I'll make sure it stays safe," she assured Ancient Tome.
Ancient Tome nodded and turned to look at Starlight. The mare was looking at her flank and saw the all too familiar equal sign adorning it, this one completely genuine instead of painted on like previously. "Maybe now you'll finally understand how much you hurt us by taking our cutie marks away," he said to her as she seethed at him. He and Double Diamond then backed up and rejoined Sugar Belle and the other founding ponies in facing the six mares who helped free their town.
Starlight felt magic lift her to her hooves, and then felt something slide over her horn. She went to remove it but felt a stifling sensation in her horn. One of the ponies had placed a suppressor ring on it.
The lilac mare looked to see the white mare with her horn glowing a blue color and looking at her sternly. "Just be glad I had one that went well with your coat color" she said as she closed her saddlebags.
Starlight just rolled her eyes. A rope bridle was then affixed to her muzzle, and the blue pegasus fell in line behind her, glaring at her as she did so.
"We'll have a member of the royal guard come out and check on all of you as soon as we get back" Twilight told Ancient Tome and the other founding ponies, who had become the de-facto town council. "I'll even put in a word with Princess Celestia to see if we can extend the rail line out to your village so you can have any supplies you may need delivered."
"That would be appreciated, your highness," Ancient Tome told her while bowing. Double Diamond, Sugar Belle and the others followed suit. Once they rose back up, they bid the six mares farewell and safe travels, and head back to their village, preparing to discuss the future of their small town.
Starlight watched the group of ponies leaving with agitation. She'd led them here and helped them start this village, and now they were just turning their backs on her and hoofing her over to a group of mares that ruined her perfect vision?
A sudden sharp tug caused Starlight to nearly topple over. Once she recovered, she looked at the source.
The orange pony wearing the hat was tugging harshly at the bridle. The blue pegasus stepped in front of her with a venomous glare to match her own. "Move it!" she spat at Starlight, then turned and walked behind the alicorn, tail twitching in agitation.
"Ya heard what Dash just told ya!" the orange mare followed up, giving another sharp tug for emphasis.
Starlight glared at her but complied as she started walking. At current, she wouldn't put it past anypony to take the noose now around her neck and do her in with it. Cooperation was her best option at the moment.
Falling into line behind the mares, Starlight was pulled along back towards Equestria, a prisoner of the six mares.
The sextet of mares and prisoner made their way back across the desert and towards the end of the rail line where the six had gotten off several days before. It would take at least that long to get back, if not a little longer. Fortunately, an abandoned homestead still had a usable water pump and the mares would be able to refill their canteens for the return trip.
The group was led at the front by Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and recently crowned Princess of Friendship. Just behind her were three of her friends: Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Behind those three were Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the self appointed wardens of the last member of the group: Starlight Glimmer.
The lilac mare pouted as she was led quite literally like a dog on a leash. The lasso was still taught around her neck, but not so tight as to strangle her. It was at that perfect spot where a hard tug would cause the noose to grip at her neck painfully if she did something that the two ponies found unpleasant.
The lavender alicorn had a map in her magic, retracing the path that the group had used to get to the small village. As she scrutinized it, a certain blue member of the party voiced her frustration.
"This desert sucks!" Rainbow Dash complained. "Are you sure I can't just fly ahead and get some guards to come meet us, Twilight?"
Twilight looked back at Rainbow Dash with an annoyed stare. "Dash, it would take some time for a squad in the guard to get organized and ready to ship out to meet us. By the time they got the ponies and resources together and started to move out to meet us, we'd be on the train and heading to Canterlot."
Rainbow Dash huffed. "What does it matter?" she questioned. "We'd get her out of our manes sooner."
"She can hear you," Starlight announced to the group, "and you'll all be sorry once I figure out how to get out of these restraints!"
The lasso on her neck suddenly got really tight and a force yanked Starlight totally off of her hooves. Trying to recover, she noticed a shadow looming over her. Looking up and expecting to see the orange earth pony, she was surprised to see the white unicorn Rarity.
"You are being most uncouth about this whole situation!" she chastised Starlight, who looked away with a huff. "What you did was reprehensible beyond words! Stealing cutie marks and keeping ponies from their destiny! What in the world would make you think that was such a good idea?!"
Starlight turned and glared back at Rarity. "It put everypony on even hoofing!" she spat at the unicorn. "Nopony was better than anypony else! Everyone was treated as equals!" She emphasized her point by pointing her hoof at her new equal sign cutie mark.
"Everypony being the same isn't equal."
The six mares turned to face the pony who had spoken just then. The five friends were surprised to see that it was none other than Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus approached Starlight with a stern glare, and admittedly, Starlight did feel a small twinge of worry upon seeing the timid pegasus looking at her that way.
"Taking ponies cutie marks to make them equal is wrong!" the mare continues as she points her hoof at Starlight. "Even without their special talents, they still aren't equal to each other. Nopony can ever be truly thee same as another, and the reason is because of how different all ponies are!"
"Well they can certainly not be better than the next pony!" Starlight spat at her in retort.
"Nopony is better than anypony else" Fluttershy told the mare sternly.
Starlight scoffed. "Yeah, like I'd believe that coming from a pegasus that can barely fly!"
The stern look on Fluttershy's face was washed away by one of complete shock.
"Oh really?" Starlight says mockingly. "You thought I wouldn't realize? Every pegasus I've met is always itching to get in the air whenever they can, but I haven't seen you so much as fluff out your wings."
She then turned to Rarity.
"And you! You seem to have telekinesis down pat, but what else can you do?"
Rarity is left speechless for a moment as she tries to answer Starlight. The lilac unicorn doesn't give her a chance.
"Diddly squat!" she spits at Rarity. "That's what else you're good at! Diddly squat!"
Her ire then turns towards Pinkie.
"And then we have the party pony that can't stand a little bit of sad and miserable. Well, get over it, sweet cheeks! Life is full of sad and miserable!"
SMACK!
Five of the mares gasp as Starlight falls back on her flank and rubs a now very sore cheek. Looking back to verbally chastise the pony who did it, she's met with a death glare from Rainbow Dash.
"Maybe Fluttershy isn't the strongest flyer in Equestria," Rainbow says to Starlight, "and maybe Rarity isn't the strongest spellcaster, and perhaps Pinkie is a little too positive for some ponies, but they are my friends , and my equals, and if you ever say anything like that about them again, I'll make sure all the meals you eat for the rest of your life will have to be sucked through a straw!"
Rainbow turns with her tail twitching angrily. Starlight was going to spit another jab at the pegasus, but it died in her throat as the hat wearing pony firmly jerked her back up onto her hooves.
"If you say anything else nasty before we get to Canterlot" Applejack says, completely dropping her southern accent, "Then I guarantee you that you won't be worrying about sucking your food through a straw. Your mouth will be wired shut so tight that they'll have to pump it straight into your stomach."
Applejack turned around and gave the rope another hard tug, taking Starlight off balance and forcing her to walk. The lilac mare wanted to give her another verbal jab, but the lasso again forced her to keep quiet and moving, unless she really did want to be strangled.
The group reached another homestead, this one having some ponies living in it. After trading a little bit of food they weren't going to use, they refilled the empty canteens they had with water from the family's well.
After moving on from the homestead, Twilight looked up at the sky and let out a sigh. "It's getting late in the day" she told the group. "We should find a place to set up a camp for the night."
"What about gonna do about her?" Rainbow Dash asks while gesturing to Starlight. "All of our tents are single pony tents."
"Starlight's a flight risk," Twilight points out, "so we'll need to keep an eye on her. She can use my tent and we'll all take turns keeping an eye on her. I'll take the first watch and we can decide the rotation after that."
Starlight scoffs. "Just let me sleep outside and freeze" she spits at the group. "It's what you all want to do with me anyways."
Twilight scowled as she then approached the unicorn.
"I would never do that," Twilight retorts, "and for two reasons. One, I would never do a mean thing like that to another pony. As for two..."
She leans in and glares at Starlight.
"I want you intact when you face Princess Celestia."
Starlight scoffs again but doesn't say anything. Twilight turns back to her friends.
"Applejack, come with me and help me find some sticks or something we can use for some firewood. Rainbow, you can guard Starlight here. Now, don't do anything to her unless she tries to do something to you first. Even if she's spitting verbal jabs at you, just ignore it. Everypony else, please find a campsite and get our tents set up for the night. Rarity, shoot up a flare spell so we can find you if it gets too dark."
Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie all nod and go about finding a campsite. Rainbow Dash gives a salute and takes the lasso from Applejack. The farm pony follows Twilight as she walks away from the group and in the direction of some nearby shrubbery.
"Let's go" Rainbow says through gritted teeth as she holds the lasso, giving a sharp tug and getting Starlight moving again. "I'm pretty sure there's a spot big enough to keep our tents close to a fire but not too close, and there should be plenty of rocks to make a pit."
Everypony agrees and they begin moving forward. Starlight follows against her will, not seeing a way to escape without immediately being recaptured by the pegasus guarding her. However, the current situation doesn't dissuade her from trying to come up with some kind of plan.
After about fifteen minutes or so of walking, the five mares come across an open patch of ground with a good scattering of rocks spread around it.
"Okay, this looks like a good spot" Rainbow says to her friends. "You girls go ahead and set up your tents while I keep watch of little miss troublemaker over here. I'll take care of mine when Twilight and Applejack get back."
The other three mares nod as they get out their tents and start assembling them. As they do so, Twilight and Applejack approach the group, bundles of sticks and dry shrubbery on their backs.
"I'll take over watchin' her" Applejack tells Rainbow as she unloads her pile next to a fire pit quickly dug out by Rarity's magic.
"Thanks, AJ" Rainbow says to her friend as she gives the lasso back and goes into her bags for her tent.
"You worry about keeping an eye on Starlight, Applejack" Twilight says after unloading her own pile of firewood and kindling. "I'll set up your tent for you."
"Thank ya kindly, Twi" Applejack says in appreciation before returning to keeping an eye on Starlight. The lilac mare snorted as she chose to lay down for the moment. Inside her mind, she still continued seething at the ponies around her.
"How DARE these ponies do this to me!" she thought to herself. "I had the idea for that village! I recruited those ponies to help me! We built every one of those houses ourselves! We started farms! We dug wells! We made a town and we made it perfect! Why did these no good ponies have to come and ruin it all?!"
She directed her attention to the ponies in question. Twilight was using her magic to levitate the tent stakes that would make her shelter for the night. Rainbow Dash was finishing her own. Fluttershy had just finished piling up the kindling to start the fire, with a spark provided by Rarity's magic. Pinkie Pie was rummaging through her bags and sorting out some food to make for a meal.
Bizarrely, or at least it seemed bizarre to Starlight, the mare had produced a full platter of brightly decorated cupcakes.
Her attention to the group then passed over to her current warden: Applejack. The country mare glared at her as she held the lasso around Starlight's neck in her muzzle. The look on her face almost seemed like an invitation for her to try something, as though the mare was looking for any excuse to vent some recently built up frustration.
Starlight let out a breath as she sank down onto the ground. With the farm pony keeping an ever vigilant eye on her, there was little to nothing she could do to even attempt to escape. So with that in mind, the lilac unicorn decided to lay down and think on the issue for the time being.
The tents had been set up and a meal had been concocted. Canned vegetables made into a stew, with a can of candied apples as a dessert. The six friends ate well, but Starlight refused; she had decided on a hunger strike as an act of defiance against her current wardens. Twilight made an effort to get the mare to eat, but eventually gave it up as a futile effort.
Once bowls and tableware were cleaned and cans were stowed for later recycling, the mares decided to go to bed so they could get up early and make their way back to the train so that they could take Starlight to Canterlot and the two princesses. As stated before, Twilight had given Starlight her tent and agreed to keep her eye on the unicorn until another pony woke up to relieve her.
The lilac unicorn in question had kept quiet for quite a while. Of course, no one plots an escape out loud, especially in front of the ones holding them prisoner. In her head, she was taking note of everything around her and what she could use to aid in her escape.
Unfortunately, there was little to nothing. In fact, the only real option that wasn't entirely bogus was the sand on the ground around them. If she could kick up enough of it quickly enough and for long enough, she might be able to blind the six mares and find a hiding place out among the rocks before they could react.
A quick survey of the terrain beyond the tent effectively put that plan to rest; there were no rocks large enough to hide a pony anywhere the lilac mare could see..
Sighing in defeat, Starlight opted to try and get some rest for the night. However, her wardens for the moment elected not to give her any peace.
"Why did you do it?"
Starlight looked and glared at the pony who spoke - Princess Twilight Sparkle.
"Whatever do you mean?" Starlight mockingly asked, venom clear as day in her voice and a mocking smile on her muzzle.
Twilight just glared back. "Why did you start stealing cutie marks?"
Starlight rolled her eyes and turned away from the mare.
"Hey!" Twilight called to her. "I asked you a question!"
"And I have decided not to answer it" Starlight shot back, intending to be defiant for as long as she could.
Twilight wanted to say more, but she decided to simply drop it. She clearly wasn't going to get any answers, and pushing the issue would make her clam up more than she already had.
Resigning herself to a momentary defeat, Twilight directed her attention to looking around the campsite as she stood sentry over the mare. Soon enough, it would be her turn for some shut-eye.
Night soon came and everypony except for Twilight had fallen asleep. The purple alicorn would look around the campsite, making sure that there were no wayward predators that thought they could make any of the seven mares into a quick snack. Once she was satisfied there were none for the moment, she would then direct her attention to the mare she and her friends were holding prisoner.
The lilac mare in question was just visible inside the tent. Her muzzle was facing out of the open flap and glaring at Twilight. It was quite clear that Starlight still begrudged her captors.
Twilight let out a breath as she tried to think of ways to reach the unicorn, but none sounded like they would work too well.
Something had to have happened to Starlight to make her the way she was, and for some bizarre reason, it seemed to involve cutie mars in one way or another.
"Sitting bored for hours hurting that little brain of yours?"
Twilight turned to the spiteful voice addressing her. Starlight looked at her with contempt. In truth, the lavender alicorn was certain the lilac mare would do any number of things to her if she was free of the magic inhibiting ring on her horn. The princess was ready to ignore her, but decided to try at least one of her ideas.
"I'm perfectly fine," Twilight told Starlight, "but all this must be getting to you. I know I'd be going nuts if I couldn't use my magic."
To emphasize her point, Twilight took some nearby rocks and began playing with them in her magic, making the spin around each other like ballet dancers.
Starlight watched for a moment before scowling and turning away from Twilight. The alicorn smirked. Normally, she wouldn't be fond of taunting ponies in such a way, but with Starlight's attitude, it felt justified in some small way.
A moment later, though, Twilight reconsidered her actions. She remembered her earlier thoughts about the unicorn having a bad experience related to cutie marks, but she was having a hard time coming up with a situation.
For as long as she could remember, a pony earning their cutie mark was a cause for celebration. What could've happened to Starlight that was so bad it made her despise cutie marks altogether?
Did she lose one of her parents the day she'd gotten hers?
Did she feel like she'd gotten the wrong cutie mark, as though it didn't reflect on what her true passions were?
Maybe the cutie mark represented something that was frowned upon where she lived and she was ostracized for it? That last one was certainly possible; the ponies back in Ponyville had shunned Zecora for her appearance. It wasn't too big of a stretch to think ponies would overreact to something like a cutie mark in something that was viewed as either taboo or dangerous and wanting to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the pony with that particular mark.
Letting out a sigh, Twilight elected to put the idea on the shelf for the time being. At the moment, she had a job to do, and in what she guessed would be another hour, another one of her friends would be taking her place.
Starlight Glimmer lay in the tent she'd been provided brooding. She'd refused any food and water, wishing to spite her captors. Though they had given up then, she was almost sure they would force a mouthful of water or a few bites of breakfast down her throat in the morning to ensure she stayed in good enough condition to make it back to the train and head for Canterlot.
As she lay in the tent, she again went over scenarios in her mind as to how she could attempt an escape. Different thoughts went through her mind. One was to find a way to knock out one of the mares guarding her and sneak off into the night, but she dismissed it quickly, not trusting herself to be able to strike hard enough with her hoof to knock a pony unconscious for long enough.
She had also thought of using a rock to knock a pony out, but dismissed that idea just as quickly. For one, she would have to use her hooves, and having to move with only two free hooves was very awkward, even in for only a step or two. Moreover, there was too high a risk she'd kill the pony she did it to. She didn't actually care about the lives of the mares; her reason for not killing them was simply not digging a deeper hole for herself than she already had. Besides that, she wanted to six of them alive so that she could enact revenge on them later.
After a few more failed attempts to come up with an escape plan, Starlight resigned herself to the fact that, unless something like a random monster attack, she was stuck with the six mares that had taken her prisoner. Unable to fight back a growing fatigue, she found herself drifting off to sleep.
Starlight was in her father's living room back in Sire's Hollow. She was seated at a table reading a book. Sitting across from her was a unicorn colt, his coat an orange with various patches of white painting over his form. His blue eyes were reading over his own book, looking intently at the contents. The two were reading some simple spell books, hoping to learn some things beyond the simple levitation they used everyday for things such as eating food and brushing their teeth.
Having grown bored, Starlight closed her book and looked at the colt. "Hey, Sunny," she said to him, "let's take a break from this and play a game."
The unicorn colt looked up from his book. "What kind of-"
Before he could finish, Starlight jumped up onto the table and tapped him on the nose. "You're it!" she shouted at him as she quickly darted out of the room.
Sunny then grinned as he sprung up and chased after her. "No fair!" he called out as he gave chase. The two unicorns ran all over the house, going from room to room, with Starlight dodging the colt's attempts to tag her back.
Soon enough, they made their way back to the living room. Starlight came round the table, but then she stopped when she didn't hear Sunny chasing after her. She looked back over to the door way and gasped.
Standing by the door was Sunny. He looked at her with contempt, and then turned to the door to leave. As he did so, he turned his flanks towards her, and gave Starlight a look at the cutie mark now adorning them; a sun with rays and sparkles coming off of it.
"Sunny?" she called out to the colt, sounding unsure of herself and a little bit afraid.
The colt stopped and looked back at her in disgust. "Why would I wanna play with a blank flank like you?" he said snidely as he opened the door and walked out of it.
"Sunny! Wait!" Starlight called out after him. She made an attempt to chase him, but found her hooves bound to the floor. She struggled to get herself free, but could not get her hooves to come off the floor. It was as if they were fused into the floor as part of some spell.
As she frantically tried to get her hooves loose, she heard a noise behind her. Looking back, she saw a large stack of books toppling over, the fall carrying it in her direction. Terror shot through the mare as she tried even more desperately to free herself from whatever was holding her in place. She paused when she saw a shadow grow and darken over her. She turned and let out a scream as the stack of books landed on top of her.
Starlight suddenly awoke, adrenaline pumping, sweating profusely, and gasping for air. Realizing that it was a nightmare and she was now awake, she took a few moments to breathe in and out to calm her rapid heartbeat. Once she had calmed down enough, she reflected on her nightmare.
It was one she'd had her whole life, though the details of it were a bit exaggerated from what had actually happened. Of course, exaggerations on fears is the modus operandi of nightmares.
"Goodness!"
The soft voice caught Starlight off guard, and she turned to face the pony it belonged to.
Standing above her was Fluttershy, or at least that was how the other six addressed her. The mare had apparently switched places with Twilight sometime while she was asleep. The pegasus was looking at her with concern.
"What?" Starlight asked her curtly.
"Umm..." Fluttershy began before pausing with uncertainty. "You were having a nightmare."
"So?" the lilac mare replied, visibly displaying annoyance.
"It, umm, it didn't look good" was all the nervous pegasus could get out.
"When has a nightmare ever been good?" Starlight said more than asked, the annoyance clear in her voice as she turned away from Fluttershy, making an attempt to ignore the mare. Nothing was said for a few moments, but Fluttershy again tried to broach the issue.
"You know, sometimes talking about things can help us feel better" she offered weakly.
Starlight turned around and shot Fluttershy a glare. "And sometimes it reopens old wounds, so maybe we shouldn't even bother! Especially in the middle of the damn night!"
Fluttershy flinched back at the mare's aggressive retort, but soon enough found her resolve. "Bottling up feelings doesn't do anypony any good."
"Yeah, well, nopony actually cares" Starlight spat back as she attempted to ignore the buttery pegasus watching over her.
"That's not true!" Fluttershy said as she lightly stomped her hoof. "I care!"
Starlight turned to sneer at her. "Oh, you really care? Well, you certainly care enough to rip away my village I worked so hard to build! You care enough to turn my ponies against me! You care enough to take me prisoner and march me across a desert so I can get on a train and get taken before the princesses!"
"Yeah, you sure do care alright!"
Fluttershy had nothing to say, responding with a sigh and shaking her head. Satisfied that she wouldn't be pestered by the yellow pegasus anymore, Starlight again lay still as she again drifted off to sleep.
Starlight was inside a library now, a few years older. Books were flying off of shelves, chasing her this way and that. The filly cried out as she dodged this way and that, desperate for an escape.
Rounding another bookshelf, Starlight finds herself in an impromptu reading pit; a few pillows sat around a small table. The books that seemed to be chasing her now vanished as the library appeared calm. Approaching cautiously, Starlight eyed the table and was shocked by what she saw there.
In the middle of the table was a yearbook. More specifically, it was a yearbook for Sire's Hollow Elementary. Upon getting closer, Starlight lit her horn and took the yearbook in her magic and opened it.
The yearbook was how she remembered all of them being. First was a letter from the principal wishing the students moving on to high school good luck and those remaining behind well wishes for their next school year. After that was photographs of the teachers and other staff, and then there were the individual students. Just past those were the photographs of all the school club groups, such as a buckball team and singing choir.
However, as Starlight turned one page, she gasped.
On a single page was a blown up picture of Sunny, a large smile on his face and cutie mark visible on his flank. Below the picture was a letter of well wishing from the principal:
To our dear friend Sunburst,
You have exceeded all of our expectations and have proven yourself to be very capable of magic. We wish you well as you transfer from our school to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. We hope you will make all of Sire's Hollow Proud.
Spared Rod Principal of Sire's Hollow Elementary
Starlight remembered this yearbook well. She had gotten it because of this specific page. It was her last memento of Sunny before he left for Canterlot and Celestia's school. The memory caused tears to form in her eyes.
"You're a failure, Starlight."
The lilac mare's eyes shot back open as she looked around for the familiar voice but to no avail.
"You can't do anything right."
Again, her eyes darted around, looking every direction conceivable yet still coming up empty.
"It was all your fault."
Realization dawns on her as she looks down at the yearbook. Sunny's picture is moving, and the young colt is shaking his head.
"How could you let them do that to you?" he chastised her. "You let those six mares just come right into your town and rip it away from you."
Starlight looked at the picture, at first confused, but then with anger.
"It wasn't my fault!" she spat at the photograph. "Those mares were the ones that ruined everything!"
"No, Starlight" Sunny says while shaking his head. "You did."
"I did not!" she retorts.
"Of course you did" Sunburst says calmly. "You always find a way to screw it up. It's just like that day when you had to pull that book. Because of your poor judgment, I was sent away. It's all your fault, Starlight!"
"No it isn't!" she screams back at Sunny as she fires a beam at the yearbook, blasting it apart and setting the pieces aflame.
"Yes it is Starlight" Sunny continues to taunt her, his voice now coming from almost everywhere at once. "It's all your fault, and now you'll pay the ultimate price for it."
"SHUT UP!" Starlight screams as she begins blasting bookshelves left and right, creating a rain made of burning books and pieces of burning wood.
"It's all your fault" Sunny continues taunting. "You failed your village, and they turned on you, just like me!"
Starlight hears the voice coming from one direction now. Looking up, she sees Sunny standing a few feet from her. His horn glows and a blast knocks the wind out of her. Gasping for breath, she tries to stand up, but finds it extremely difficult.
"You failed Starlight," Sunny continues taunting, "and now I have to clean up the mess."
Sunny's horn ignites again, and suddenly the table and pillows are swallowed by a maelstrom made of quicksand. Starlight is caught in it and quickly pulled towards the center. Starlight cries out for help, but Sunny looks on in disappointment.
"Goodbye, Starlight" he says with a forlorn tone as he turns and walks away.
"NOOOO!!!!!" Starlight yells as she's sucked down by the quicksand.
Starlight wakes up again, gasping for air and covered in a bit of sweat. Her heart is racing a mile a minute, and for just a moment, the lilac mare thinks she might be on the verge of a heart attack. As before, she takes the time to calm down her heart, eventually slowing the organ down to a much more comfortable pace.
"Y'all was havin' a nightmare again."
At first, Starlight is confused, but quickly she scowls as she directs her attention to the pony addressing her. Sure enough, it's the orange earth pony wearing a hat. Applejack, if she remembers correctly.
"Not that I really care all that much" the farm pony adds as she looks away into the darkness of night surrounding them.
Starlight's frown deepens. "Just leave me alone" she spits at Applejack before trying to fall asleep again.
"Why'd y'all do it?"
Starlight snaps back up and glares at Applejack. The farm mare looks at her while chewing on a piece of wheat stalk she found from somewhere.
"What made ya wanna start that village?" Applejack asks again.
"None of your business!" Starlight spits back.
Applejack ignores the intended jab.
"I can understand wantin' ta start a town," the earth pony continues, "but I don't get the whole takin' cutie marks thing."
"What's to understand?!" Starlight spits at her. "We didn't like cutie marks! They did nothing but cause strife. When everypony back in my village all had the same mark, things were better!"
"But y'all kept yours" Applejack points out.
"I had to!" counters Starlight. "Somepony needed to be able to perform the spell, and since I was the main founder of the village, I decided it should be me!"
"And there was no other reason besides that?"
Applejack's question was one she didn't have an answer readily available for. Caught off guard, she let out a huff and turned away from the mare that served as her current warden.
"If I had ta guess," Applejack continues, "I'd say y'all had some kinda real bad experience when ya was a filly. I think it made ya afraid of cutie marks."
"I'm not afraid of cutie marks!" Starlight said as she wheeled around to face Applejack.
"Maybe not the marks themselves," Applejack counters, "but what they represent."
"I had that talk as a filly too!" Starlight retorts. "They're a representation of a special talent possessed by that pony. A physical representation of something they're really good at!"
"Not at all what I meant" the earth pony counters back. She then stands up and walks over to a tent. It's Fluttershy's, as noted by the mark of three butterflies on the outside of it.
"You know what her cutie mark means?" Applejack turns and asks Starlight.
"She's a good butterfly catcher?" Starlight sarcastically answers.
"It represents her gentle nature" Applejack corrects. "Fluttershy got this after she calmed a whole mess a critters down after our friend Rainbow made her first Sonic Rainboom. Ever since that day, that filly has been workin' with all the critters in the forest to get 'em to live peacefully."
"Yeah, I'm sure the wolves are the more eager to be friends with the rabbits" Starlight said disingenuously.
"I said get along, not make friends" Applejack answers. "She has a cottage outside of Ponyville so the critters that come to see her aren't scared off by the ponies in town. Her home is a sort of animal hospital, and the critters go there to get patched up an' recover."
"Big woop" Starlight responds. "She's an unlicensed wildlife vet."
"She's a great help to a great many critters, including my dog Winona" Applejack tells Starlight with a much sterner tone than before.
"I don't really care" Starlight says as she turns back over. "Besides, it don't matter. You six are taking me to Canterlot so they can toss me in the dungeons, so why even bother talking?"
"Because if we can convince you of what you did wrong and get ya to apologize," Applejack answers, "then maybe y'all don't have to see the princesses and possibly go to the dungeons."
Starlight rolls back over and looks at Applejack with a glare. "At least I won't have you six trying to shove your misguided morals down my neck."
Starlight again rolls away from Applejack, doing her best to get to sleep and hoping the mare keeping watch of her has finally taken the hint.
Though there is silence for some time, Applejack has yet to cease from her attempts to sway the stubborn unicorn.
"Ah might not know it the way you do," she begins, "but ah know what it's like to lose somethin' I loved a great deal."
Starlight does her best to ignore the pony, hoping that her laying still will make Applejack think she's asleep again.
"I was just a filly when my ma an' pa died. My little sister Applebloom had been born for only a few months, and my older brother Big Macintosh was only a few years from being a stallion."
"We never did hear a clear cut answer as to what happened. We had ideas, though. Maybe they got sick from somethin'. Maybe there was some kinda accident. Maybe somepony held a grudge and killed 'em. Hay, when the changelings attack Canterlot, we even started to think maybe them varmints had stolen them away and had 'em holed up in whatever cave or hive they live in."
"Honestly, it don't really matter what happened to 'em, because they ain't here now, and nothing I or anypony can do will change it."
"Oh, please!"
Starlight once again rolled over to look at Applejack, the glare from earlier present again and perhaps even stronger.
"You lost your mommy and daddy as a filly. Big deal! There's ponies out there that lost parents as foals. I should know since I lost my mom as one too!"
"I lost a village I spent years building. I lost ponies I considered friends. I lost the life I dreamed of since I was a little filly, and all because of you and your friends!"
"So don't give me a sob story to try and get me to suddenly change my mind. It's not gonna work."
Starlight took the time to see the hurt on Applejack's face. "Good" she thought to herself. "Maybe now I'll get some damn peace and quiet."
As she tried to settle in, she could hear some sniffling behind her. "Oh, did I make the little farmer mare cry?" she thought snidely with a smile.
She then heard hoofsteps that she assumed was Applejack going to another tent. She could hear a conversation going on, but couldn't make out all of it.
"My turn already? Wait, what's wrong AJ?"
"..."
"Oh, AJ!"
"..."
"Get some shut eye. I'll keep watch of her."
"D-Don't do nothin' foolish, y-ya hear?"
"C'mon AJ, it's me. When have I ever done anything foolish?"
"..."
"Okay, fine. I Pinkie Promise I won't. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. There, now catch some Zzzs."
Starlight hears nothing for a few seconds, then she hears hoofsteps approach from behind her.
"I really wish Twilight had let me go ahead and get the guards here sooner," the raspy voice of the blue pegasus said to her, "because it's gonna be real hard for me to keep the Pinkie Promise I just made."
Starlight just rolls her eyes as she stays in place, once again making an effort to fall asleep as Rainbow Dash takes up her position as sentry for the night.
Starlight finds herself walking back towards the town of Sire's Hollow. She's just graduated from school and is preparing to set off and see the world, and hopefully find her place in it. On her back is a saddlebag full of books and scrolls, all ranging in topics, from small town economics to infrastructure planning. If one were to see the assortment of materials in the saddlebags, they'd think the lilac unicorn they belonged to was going to be a civil servant of some sort.
Moving about the houses, Starlight finds her way to her childhood home. Knocking on the door, Starlight is startled to see the door open from her gentle tapping. Becoming nervous, she pushes it open a bit more and pokes her muzzle in.
"Dad?" she calls out. "Anypony?"
Silence is the only response. A glance inside reveals the entryway, with table against one wall, hat rack on another, and photographs and paintings on either.
Ignoring a feeling of dread, Starlight steps inside, closing the door shut behind her. Moving through the hallway, she tries calling out again.
"Hello?"
Again, she gets no response. Growing a bit more fearful, she decides to head for the kitchen to grab a knife. As she steps into the kitchen, she sees a note pinned to the refrigerator with her name in big letters. Cautiously, she approaches and reads the note.
Starlight,
Stellar Flare and I decided to have a brunch together. We're at the old cafe close to the train station. You can wait here for us to get back or you can come join us for lunch. It'll be my treat, of course.
With love, Your Dear Old Dad
Starlight breathes a sigh of relief, only to suddenly grow very anxious. She came from the train station, and she passed that cafe, but there was nopony there.
*BA-DUNK*
Starlight lets out a squeal as she turns towards the noise. She deduces quickly that it came from the basement. Grabbing a flashlight from a nearby drawer, she heads to the basement.
Opening the door, Starlight looks down the stairs at the concrete floor at the end of about twelve steps. She doesn't dare call out, lest there be an intruder that decides her presence her and now is threatening. As quietly as possible, meaning that she uses her magic to prevent the wooden stairs from creaking, Starlight heads down into the basement.
The room at the bottom of the stairs is a decent size. The basement itself is divided into two rooms: one for storage, and another for the water heater and furnace for when the winter gets rather cold. Starlight moves to the center and pulls on the cord for the overhead light.
The room lights up and reveals what the mare had seen more or less her whole life: boxes. Her father was a bit of a pack rat, and the room contained more than a few odds and ends. Old books, enchanting crystals, obsolete technology and knick knacks from various adventures over the old stallion's life.
What is different, however, is a small glass dish with four cutouts in the corners.
"Huh?" Starlight says aloud, confused by the sight before her. "Why would dad have an ashtray?"
Leaning down to inspect the glass item, Starlight's attention is called to her right, where she sees something she knows ought not be there; a hole in the wall.
It's as tall as a pony, and appears to go back for a short distance, but begins to go downwards after a point. Propped up next to the hole are two shovels, both with what appears to be fresh dirt on them.
Starlight walks over to inspect the shovels but quickly stops. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots movement inside the tunnel.
"Dad?" she calls out, trepidation in her voice.
She's answered with a sudden scurrying of hooves going further into the tunnel. Looking in, Starlight again sees movement, like a pony's head disappearing deeper into the darkness. Gulping down a breath, Starlight grabs one of the shovels in her magic and cautiously makes her way into the tunnel.
Examining it in the light from the basement, she can see the tunnel is not just dirt, but looks to be coated in something akin to epoxy. Lighting up the flashlight, she points it at the walls to take a closer look.
The epoxy isn't actually epoxy, but similar to bee's wax. The lack of buzzing tells her it isn't bee's wax, and has her curious, albeit morbidly, about what actually made the material.
She gets to the end of the tunnel where it starts to slow down and pauses. Should she really keep going? It's a strange tunnel she's never seen before and covered in a strange substance she can't identify.
"That's definitely a sign that I should turn around right now and go find help" Starlight says to herself, and does just that.
However, as she looks back towards the tunnel entrance, she suddenly finds nothing but a wall of the same wax-covered dirt facing her.
"Wh-what?!" she gasps out as her magic flickers and she drops the shovel and flashlight. Cursing herself, she picks up both and looks around again, trying to figure out if there's another way to get out.
Unfortunately for he, the solution appears to be following the tunnel further, so she reluctantly does so, keeping her eyes peeled for any signs of danger.
Putting one hoof in front of the next, Starlight keeps moving further down into the tunnel, the slope gradual and just as covered in wax as all of the walls before, except for stones that appear to have been placed in the wax to help provide traction. Cautiously making her way down, Starlight tries to come up with an answer as to what could have made a tunnel like this. She has a few ideas, but none of them are good.
What she sees after coming around a corner dispels many of those ideas, and leaves her with one that fills her with absolute terror.
The tunnel opens up into a cavern big enough to hold her father's house. There are stalactites and stalagmites scattered about, a product of a spring head somewhere above in the rocks. The room has glowing mushrooms providing a small amount of light, but Starlight's attention is called to the objects hanging from the ceiling.
She sees her father, Stellar Flare, and another pony she can't identify. All three of them are suspended in what look like butterfly cocoons. Only Starlight knows they're not butterfly cocoons.
A sudden scurrying tears her attention away from the three ponies as she looks around. She sees movement around one of the stalagmites. Gathering her determination, she brandishes the shovel defensively.
"Why Starlight?"
The voice calls out to her, and she thinks to ignore it, but two facts stop her from doing that: the voice is her father's, and it's coming from behind her.
Looking back, she's greeted with her father looking at her from inside the cocoon. He looks at her with sad eyes.
"Why did you fail everypony?" he asks her.
Starlight tries to deny what she's seeing. She knows what she's dealing with now, and knows she can't trust any of her senses.
"This isn't real" she tells herself as she continues to look around in a defensive posture.
"You couldn't help anypony" her father's voice continues. "Why did you abandon them, Starlight? Why did you abandon your village?"
Starlight fights against her feelings, knowing that giving in and reacting is exactly what is desired of her.
"Why couldn't you do great things like he did?"
It's a voice Starlight recognizes almost as quickly as her father. She turns an eye back to see a now awake Stellar Flare looking at her with pity.
"Sunny has gone on to do such great things" Stellar tells Starlight. "He's a great wizard now. Why couldn't you have turned out like he did?"
The urge not to say anything or give in to her feelings is getting harder to fight, but Starlight keeps it up, reacting to another quick flash of movement within the cave.
"You've failed everypony Starlight."
The third pony speaks, and Starlight goes cold as she turns to face it.
It was Sunny, still a foal.
"You've failed everypony" he reiterates. "You created a utopia and let it be destroyed. You allowed their minds to be twisted by those strangers, let them be convinced your idea was a mistake."
"The village is lost now. They'll bicker and argue over the best course of action, and the village will suffer for it. Their uniqueness will taint the very buildings themselves, and the town will die out."
"And it's all your fault, Starlight."
The lilac mare can't hold it back any longer.
"It wasn't my fault!" she shouts at the three ponies. "I did my best. It's those other ponies fault!"
"No, Starlight. It's yours."
A fourth voice she'd never heard before speaks directly behind her. A chill runs up her spine as she realizes exactly what it was she's heard. Despite not wanting to, she turns around and faces the new pony.
Except, it's not a pony.
Two large, blue and luminous eyes are staring back at her, with only a slightly lighter colored spot giving any indication as to where the two eyes were currently looking.
And they were looking at Starlight.
"You're the one who let that village get tainted" the voice mocks as the creature steps forward, one hole-filled hoof before the other.
"You should've had them captured and imprisoned, but you didn't" it says again, it's serpent like tongue flicking at the air.
"And more importantly," the voice says as the creature licks its fangs and smiles, "you let your guard down."
Starlight screams as the changeling in front of her pounces.
Starlight wakes up again, gasping for breath. Her heart is racing, and she's been sweating like a pony having ran a marathon. She looks around and sees nothing but tent and a small fire burning outside.
"You were having another nightmare" a voice says to her.
Starlight jumps at the sound of the voice, her dream having caused her anxiety to be much more elevated than normal. Eventually, she calms down enough to register the sound of the voice, as well as who it belongs to, and then notices a rather plain looking muffin sitting just outside of the tent. She scowls.
"No" Starlight says defiantly, and then punctuates the point by striking the muffin with her hoof, sending it towards the fire.
A pink hoof catches the muffin mid air, leaving no doubt as to which pony it was. In truth, Starlight was a little surprised that the cyan pegasus wasn't there to taunt her about waking up from a nightmare. Maybe she'd managed to get a hour or more of sleep this time around.
"Why are you so mean?" the pink mare asked.
Starlight rolls her eyes at the question. "Are you really that dumb? You took my village away from me! You took my ponies away from me! You do something like that and expect me to be all 'sunshine and rainbows' about it?"
"Those ponies weren't happy" Pinkie retorts.
Starlight scowls at the mare.
"Without their cutie marks, they were incomplete" Pinkie continues. "They lost their purpose, and they had a constant feeling that they were missing something, like a cupcake without frosting and sprinkles."
"What the hay does an unfrosted cupcake have to do with the ponies in my village?!" Starlight asks incredulously. "My ponies were happy, there were never any arguments, and we all worked together just fine."
"No, you didn't."
Starlight is caught off guard by the accusation. "Wh-what did you say?"
"Your village wasn't working" Pinkie elaborates. "Sure, ponies did their assigned tasks, but they weren't happy. There weren't any new ideas to help the village grow or be happier. A town without anypony different grows stale, and eventually nopony wants to live there."
"If any of the ponies were that unhappy, they only needed to come see me and I would've let them be on their way."
"No, you wouldn't have."
Starlight glares at the mare with fire in her eyes, and not from the small campfire just outside. "What did you just insinuate about me?!"
Pinkie now peeks her head into the tent. The sight catches Starlight off guard and the fire in her eyes dies out some. The mare looking back at her no longer has her poofy mane, but one that is straight and hanging down to the ground, the ends dragging through the loose dirt of the desert.
"I said you wouldn't let ponies leave" Pinkie continues, now moving inside the tent and towards Starlight. The lilac unicorn is suddenly fearful as she moves back away from the mare advancing on her.
"If somepony came to you and said they wanted to leave the village and demanded their cutie mark back, you wouldn't give it to them!"
Pinkie punctuates her point by jabbing at Starlight with her hoof. Starlight stumbles backwards and out the other side of the tent, a desperate attempt to get away from the clearly crazed mare coming towards her.
"No, you wouldn't give that pony their cutie mark!" Pinkie barks out, her voice having elevated in volume slightly. "You would have your goon squad gather them up and take them to that 'fun house' of yours and have them listen to that nonsensical record again and again! You'd do it until they were driven mad and broken, and then you'd have somepony keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't run off and tell somepony."
"Well, Harmony told us about your town, Starlight. We might not have known what you were doing before you came here, but we sure as sugar knew it wasn't any good, and now we've put a stop to it. Nopony will ever have to experience what you did to those other ponies, you... you meanie pants!"
The pink mare does an about face and sits back down in front of the camp fire.
Starlight doesn't say anything. In truth, she has nothing to say. Pinkie's accusations were too on the nose for her to even attempt a rebuttal.
Ponies did come to her and voice their displeasure, and said they wanted to leave.
Upon hearing that, Starlight did just what Pinkie had accused her of. She would cast a quick stunning spell on the pony before they could react, and then she would have them re-educated. Once she was sure it took, she'd have one of her other ponies stay with them to make sure they didn't have any plans to attempt sneaking off in the night.
A feeling of cloth on her back breaks the lilac unicorn from her thoughts. Looking over, she sees the white unicorn with a big purple mane looking at her. She makes to scowl but the white unicorn is faster.
"Not a word" she says sternly. "You've made my friend unhappy. If you speak one more insult, I will turn you into a ponnequin and you can spend the rest of your life being prodded with sewing needles and pins as I fashion dresses and other garments on your body, and each time I poke you, I'll gain a small amount of satisfaction that you are receiving a punishment for your horrible acts."
The unicorn turns away before adding "If I find that blanket dirtier than it already is, then I will have you wash every single piece of fabric I own, and I have more bolts of material than you could possibly imagine."
Starlight says nothing for the remainder of the night. Of the six ponies in this group of friends, she did not expect these two to act the way they had just did to her.
The next morning came very slowly, but with no more nightmares plaguing Starlight. The six mares all woke up and prepared to eat a small breakfast and break camp, continuing their trek across the desert to the end of the rail line that would take them to Canterlot and Starlight's fate.
The earth ponies Applejack and Pinkie Pie worked together to get a large pot of water boiling so each pony could have some oatmeal. Rarity and Twilight both worked to get the tents broken down and stowed away in their saddlebags. Rainbow Dash was tasked with watching Starlight while Fluttershy took their canteens to find a nearby water source and refill them.
"Why not just tie me to a rock and leave me out here?" Starlight proposed snidely.
Rainbow glared back at her. "Because I want to see how Celestia looks at you after we tell her about all the nasty stuff you were doing to ponies in that village. You might even be sent to the moon for a thousand years like Princess Luna was."
Starlight glared back. "Good. Then I won't have to listen to anypony giving me gripe anymore!"
Rainbow tried to come up with a real stinger of a comeback line, but she simply huffed and ignored the unicorn prisoner. Starlight smirked, content with the momentary victory.
Fluttershy came back and Applejack plated everypony with food. As the six sat down to eat, Starlight spoke up.
"What? No food for prisoners?"
Twilight dropped her spoon full of oatmeal and looked at Starlight. "If we offered you some, would you eat it, turn it down, or try to make one of us wear it?"
"I see we can learn," Starlight mocks as Twilight goes back to eating oatmeal.
"You know, she's really being a stick in the mud," Rainbow said to the group.
"Yeah," Pinkie agreed. "She's been nothing but a party pooper since we left that village."
"Kinda hard not ta understand that," Applejack pointed out. "After all, we're takin' her to what's probably gonna be a jail sentence."
"Prison sentence," Twilight corrected, "but I think we all get it."
"You all get nothing," Starlight piped up, an aggravated tone in her voice.
"Yeah, yeah, we get it!" Rainbow said dismissively. "'We took your village! We ruined everything!' When are you gonna stop harping on that?"
Starlight narrowed her eyes at the pegasus. "Never."
"Please do try to tune her out," Rarity told her friends. "The way I understand it, one of her first punishments will be cleaning several very large loads of laundry, by hoof."
Starlight blew a raspberry at the mare and laid down, doing her best to tune out the ponies eating their breakfast. After about ten minutes, the food was finished and the dishes were given a quick wipe with a damp rag; the mares would clean them better once they were home.
As her friends gathered their things and prepared to move, Applejack approached Starlight. "Time to move."
Starlight looked up at her with a sneer.
"Make-"
She was cut off as a lasso landed on her neck and tightened.
"NOW!" the farm pony barked as she jerked the unicorn to her hooves.
Starlight let out a grunt as she was forcefully moved. "You don't have to be so rough about it!"
"Can it!" Applejack spat back. "Yer lucky after all ya said an' did last night I didn't hog tie ya and drag ya across the rocks fer long enough ta rip yer hide off!"
Starlight was dragged again, stumbling over rocks and nearly falling.
"You're gonna let her do this to me?" the mare asked Twilight.
The lavender alicorn looked at the unicorn with a cold glare. "After all you said last night, you're lucky that's all she wants to do. If I were you, I think I'd keep my mouth shut and do as she says. I may be an alicorn, and recognized as a princess, but that doesn't mean she has to listen to me, and I'm not about to tell her what she should and shouldn't do."
"Ya done heard her!" Applejack tells Starlight, giving another hard tug. "Get a move on!"
Starlight stumbled again but regained her hooves. She thought of complaining, but decided to just keep her mouth shut for now. The day was going to be long, and if the current temperature was any indication, it was also going to be rather hot.
It had been a couple of hours since the group had had breakfast and broke camp. Each pony was walking at an even pace, doing their best not to generate a lot of body heat and become exhausted. They took sips of their water to replenish fluids they were losing in the baking sun, and tried to find shady spots to keep as much sun off of them as possible.
"We're not lost, are we Twilight?" Rainbow asked, a bit of worry in her voice.
"No, we're not," Twilight answered. "We passed that rock formation when we walked out here originally. If my memory is right, we have about four more hours of travel until we get to the rail line."
"Pfft," Starlight blew a raspberry. "You have more than four hours going by those rocks."
Applejack glared at the unicorn and showed the rope in her hoof; a reminder to keep hold of her rather wicked tongue.
Starlight didn't take the warning. "I wanted my village far enough away from prying eyes that ponies would have to travel at least a couple of days from anywhere to get to it, including the end of the rail line coming from Canterlot, which I'm going to assume is the way that you all came?"
Nopony answered, which Starlight took as confirmation.
"You got until almost sunset before you even see the train station," she continued, leaning back against a rock and crossing her hooves over barrel. "I just hope your water holds out."
A sudden shower covers the lilac unicorn. Now drenched, she shakes off the excess and looks around.
Twilight is standing nearby with a glare on her face, a now empty water canteen held in her magic. "I will concede that you are probably right about the time," she tells Starlight, "but we're still going, even with this heat, and just for your little comment just now, you get less water for the journey."
"First you starve your prisoner, then-"
Starlight's retort is cut off by a hoof across her jaw. While most would agree that the unicorn had it coming, everypony is surprised by the one to finally do it.
"We. Are not. Starving you." Fluttershy seethes, rubbing her now sore hoof. "You have refused to eat. You have been insolent to all of my friends, and even me."
Starlight goes to roll her eyes, but suddenly finds herself caught in the pegasus' eyes. The unicorn suddenly gets a cold feeling, like ice cubes being ran up her back. Her body actually begins to shake a little from the sensation, and any further retort she has catches in her throat.
"You will get water," Fluttershy continues, "but only when Twilight says. You will also eat, but only when she says we can eat. Nopony here is going to be outright mean to you for no good reason."
The glare the pegasus sported seemed to intensify as she leaned in closer.
"So don't give us a reason at all."
Her peace said, Fluttershy turned and when back to sit down near her belongings and canteen. Rarity could see her friend trembling a bit, and elected to put a hoof on her withers as a show of support.
Starlight stood dumbstruck a bit as she tried to process this strange power the pegasus had. A part of her wished she knew how to do it; it would've helped greatly in the controlling of her village. She shook off the odd feelings the encounter gave her and prepared to make some kind of comment, but Rainbow Dash stepped in front of her and glared.
"She doesn't do that very often," the blue pegasus explained, "but I'd keep my tongue in my mouth. She might just get her rabbit friend to chew it off for you."
Starlight looked at Rainbow as if she was joking, but Rainbow just ignored the look at went back to her pile of stuff.
"We sit her for another ten minutes," Twilight told her friends. "Then we pack up and move out. We can't afford to burn anymore time than we already have."
Another hour passed and the seven ponies were still walking through the desert. Rainbow protested the decision to walk back from the village and wanted to fly back to the station and get the guards to come meet them the rest of the way. Twilight told her it was pointless with them being so close, and that she didn't want anypony to get lost, as the incident from earlier proved was all but possible.
"But Twi," Rainbow whined,"I'm a pegasus! I can fly up and see the lay of the land! Twenty bits says I can see the train station at the end of the line from here and fly there and back in under a minute!"
"That's not the point, Rainbow," Twilight countered. "We came out here as a group, and we'll go back as a group. Now, please, quit complaining. You're just working yourself up and making more body heat than is necessary."
Rainbow huffed as she decided to use her wings and hover over the ground.
Starlight ignored the conversation and elected to think about another escape attempt. It would be difficult, but she knew there had to be a way.
Right now, she was being held by Applejack, but she knew that somepony else would be taking over watch of her soon enough. Assessing the environment, she tried to remember the details that she had noted once before when she originally came out with the first ponies to start the village.
In her scanning, she saw a rock formation off to one side and recognized it, and immediately, a plan began to form in her mind.
Doing her best to look famished, she starts slowing up, and eventually trips and falls down.
"Back on yer hooves!" Applejack commanded her, giving the rope a sharp pull.
Starlight coughs from the pressure on her wind pipe. "Can't... go... any... further...." she gasped out. "Need... break... shade..."
"What's going on?" Twilight asked, having turned around to approach the earth pony and unicorn.
"Says she can't go on," Applejack explained. "Wants to stop somewhere shady."
Twilight frowned. "There's no shady spots around here."
"There," Starlight said with a pointed hoof. "Old mine... caved in... entrance still okay..."
Twilight considered the unicorn for a moment, but then turned and went to inspect the rocks. True to the unicorn's word, there was a mine shaft there, or at least the remains of one. The timbers holding the rocks up looked intact still. A look inside showed that it went back in for about three or four pony lengths, before it started to slope downward. On one of the walls was a lantern, and below it, a kerosene jug.
Twilight considered the merits of stopping now versus waiting. It would take longer with this break, but they would be able to cool off much better in here, and possibly not use as much water. Another point in favor of that idea was the fact that the lavender alicorn had dumped her canteen on Starlight earlier, which was a clear mistake on her part; she was thankful that her friends were willing to share their water with her.
With the situation making up her mind for her, Twilight returned to the group. "What she said is true," she told her friends. "There's an old mine shaft that goes back for a bit. Felt pretty cool, so I think we should take a break in there and cool off. It might mean we take a little longer to get back, but we have less water on account of what I did earlier, so we should do what we can to conserve what's left."
Most of the group agreed, but Rainbow again protested. "Twi, I could-"
"No, Rainbow," Twilight cut her off. "I don't want us separated."
The alicorn closed the distance and spoke much more quietly to her friend.
"If she has some kind of plan or trick up her sleeve, then I want all of us there to be able to thwart it. You know I don't like saying this, especially since it strokes your ego so much, but you are the fastest of all of us when you use your wings, and we may only have seconds to react if she finds a way to try something in that mine."
Rainbow huffed in frustration. "Fine."
"Good. Now, let's everypony get into the shade for a bit. Pinkie and Rarity will go in first, then Applejack and I with Starlight, and Rainbow and Fluttershy bring up the rear."
The mares all nod in agreement, save Starlight, and made their way into the mine. Once inside, all of them look around at the interior, covered in dirt and cobwebs.
"I am SO going to get a double-no, a triple deep cleansing treatment at the spa when we return," Rarity complained while examining her hoof and producing a file from her saddlebags.
"So dog gone prissy," Applejack muttered as she tied Starlight to an overturned mine cart, confident the mare would not be able to get away or undo the knot without her magic.
"Umm, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "Can we light that lantern?"
"Sure," Twilight replied, lighting her horn and shooting a spark at the wick, lighting up the cave. "There."
"Thank you," the pegasus told her friend, taking the lantern and placing it onto a set of crates and adjusting the flame, lighting up the cave further.
Starlight smiled; the pegasus wasn't paying attention to the crates, and didn't see the warning sign on the side. "Once I get this knot loose, I'll have a great distraction to help me get away from these mares."
"How long are we gonna stay in here, Twilight?" Rainbow asked.
"Not for too long," Twilight replied. "Maybe a half hour or so. Just enough to get cooled down some so we don't use up too much water."
"Speaking of," the pegasus gestured to her own canteen, "you don't think there's a spring head in here someplace to get more water do you?"
Twilight shook her head. "I don't think so. Usually you see greenery in places where there's water available, and I haven't seen any around here. Besides that, the underground water in a mine like this could be full of minerals that would do a whole lot of harm to your body than the water would do good. I wouldn't drink any water without distilling it first."
"Twi's got a point there, Dash," Applejack told the pegasus, and the three began conversing among themselves. Starlight took the break in supervision to assess the other mares and see what they were doing.
Rarity was working on a piece of needlepoint, her needle going a mile a minute in her magic.
Pinkie Pie had a notebook marked "Party Plans" open and was writing something down in it.
Fluttershy had found a lizard in the mine and was conversing with it as though it were a long lost friend of hers.
Nopony had their eyes on her, and she took the opportunity before it was gone. She looked over the knot the earth pony tied and she could see how to undo it, which she did rather quickly. She thought about taking the noose off, but that would've been quite stupid. Instead, she decided on making some kind of distraction, and an idea formed quickly in her mind.
"Hey!" she called out to the mares. "I need to go to the bathroom!"
"So?" Applejack looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Nopony's usin' the mine and I doubt anypony is gonna be here anytime soon, so just go if ya gotta."
"I don't need to go number one," Starlight replied, "and I don't think anypony here really wants to smell what I actually need to do."
The mares all looked at each other before they shrugged. Applejack came back over to undo the knot holding Starlight. As she rounded the cart, Starlight made her move. Quickly, she barreled into the orange earth pony, knocking her back on her flanks.
"Twi!" she cried out. "She's loose!"
The other two mares reacted quickly, with Rainbow Dash bolting at Starlight, while Twilight prepared a stun spell.
Starlight took care of both in one go, dodging underneath the pegasus while kicking her hoof into the dirt and into Twilight's eyes, blinding her.
"Rarity!" the alicorn called out to her friend. "Stun spell!"
Starlight reacted quickly and barreled into the white mare, knocking her backwards and causing her to lose concentration.
Rainbow had recovered and prepared for another attack, but Starlight decided it was time to enact the biggest distraction of all. Grabbing the lantern in her teeth, she smashed it down onto the crates, breaking it and causing flames and oil to engulf the wood.
Applejack prepared to grab her, but stopped and stared in horror as she now recognized the label on the side of the crate.
"EVERYPONY OUT!" she shouted as she high tailed it for the outside. "THOSE CRATES ARE FULL OF DYNAMITE!"
The other mares look at the crates and see exactly what Applejack saw.
"You heard her girls!" Twilight screamed to her friends. "Get out and take cover!"
All six mares made for the exit, leaving Starlight alone. She chuckled to herself. "Those dumb mares," she said aloud. "They turned their backs for one second and gave me all the time I needed."
Quickly she shed the noose around her neck and left it on the ground. Next, she grabbed an old cloth and smothered the fire, making sure it was completely out before she headed to the secret door. Finding the lever, she tripped the trapdoor, sending the pile of rocks into the pit.
Starlight looked to the entrance and frowned. Any minute, the six mares would come back into the mine to see why there hadn't been an explosion, and then they would chase after her. She jumped over the pit and made her way deeper into the mine. She would find a way to get the ring off her horn, and then she'd find a way to trap those mares down here before making a more permanent escape.
Twilight and her friends were laying on the ground as far away from the mine entrance as they could manage, hooves covering their heads. None of them dared to move, not wanting to be caught in what was sure to be a rather large explosion. The alicorn waited for several minutes before her curiosity got the better of her. She stood up and started to cautiously approach the mine.
"What the hay are ya doin' Twi!?" Applejack called out to her friend.
"That dynamite should've blown up by now," Twilight answered. "You girls stay out here. I'm going to check it."
"Like Celestia you are!" Rainbow said as she made her way in front of the mare. "I should go. I can get out of there before the dynamite has the chance to blow up!"
"And I can teleport out if it goes off and collapses the mine entrance. That is going to be much quicker than digging through rubble to find a body."
Rainbow went to protest but Twilight raised a hoof. "I can also teleport the dynamite somewhere out of the way where it won't hurt anypony. Honestly Rainbow Dash, I'm probably the best choice of all of us as far as handling explosives; I have read up on them many times over the years."
Seeing as she wasn't going to convince her friend, Rainbow Dash just gave a nod.
"Don't do anything stupid in there."
"That's kind of ironic, Dash."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
Twilight didn't answer. Instead, she continued into the mine, looking ahead to where the crates were. She noticed the cloth over top of them and carefully lifted it up. The flames had been put out and that there didn't seem to be any immediate danger of explosion. She was putting the cloth back down when she noticed a piece of paper attached to the bottom crate, only slightly singed by the flames. Taking it in her magic, she read it and frowned. "I gotta get the girls," she thought as she teleported outside.
When Twilight popped back into existence, the five mares all rushed up to her. "What happened?"
"Starlight played us for fools," she said with a slight edge of anger. "This note was attached to the bottom crate of the dynamite. Listen to this:"
Twilight then read the note aloud for her friends.
"Pyrite,
Do not use this dynamite in the mine. The ponies who sold it to us pulled the wool over our eyes! The dynamite is nothing more than clay with a little gunpowder sprinkled into it. It's nothing more than a glorified sparkler!
I'm going to Canterlot and getting a batch of the real stuff. Keep working with the pick-axe until I get back. Don't forget to fill up water at that well we found either right away in the morning or before you go to bed at night.
Feldspar."
"That snake!" Applejack seethed as she stomped her hoof into the dirt. "She knew that dynamite wasn't real and faked the whole being too tired routine to make an escape!"
"She won't be gone for long," Twilight assured the earth pony. "We're going into that mine, and we're not leaving until we bring her out. Follow me!"
Twilight ran back into the mine, with her five friends following. The alicorn lit up her horn as she leapt over the pit where the cave in once sat and continued down into the mine.
"You're going to pay for all of this, Starlight" she thought as she and her friends went deeper into the mine, intent on catching the fugitive mare before she was gone for good.
Starlight cautiously made her down into the mines, doing her best to remember where each tunnel led to. Her village had used this mine for storage in the early days, but abandoned it once they'd built their storehouse. Right now, however, it would aid her in her attempt to escape.
Slowing down slightly, the unicorn strained to look around for something to assist her. She was currently in a section that was level and approaching a spot where four tunnels converged. A check of the walls turned up an old oil lantern, which had no more oil inside it.
Starlight smiled at feeling the lantern. While it would not help her with sight, it did tell her where she was in the mine. Turning to her left, she went down a tunnel and felt to her right. After a few meters, she felt no more wall and knew she'd found one of the storerooms where the tools had been kept. She was certain that there would be something in here to help her remove the ring suppressing her magic.
Feeling around the dark room, Starlight's hoof did eventually make contact with something useful - a workbench. She felt around on the top and found a few tools, but nothing that would assist her like she wanted.
Then she felt her hoof pass over a long wooden handle. Grinning wide, she ran her hoof up to one end and found the item she was hoping was still here: a pick-axe.
Starlight wasted no time, grabbing the pick-axe with her hoof and sliding it over so she could grasp it with her mouth. A first grasp caused her to spit from a film of dust that settled onto the wood, but a quick wipe with her hoof removed enough of the dust to allow her to grab it with her teeth and swing it. She could handle the weight, which would let her use her new weapon, but that wasn't the reason she wanted the pickax.
Placing her hoof on the workbench, she continued feeling around until she felt the next object that would offer her assistance - a bench vise. Finding the handle, she turned it until the vise was fully shut. With a solid point to make a lever, Starlight placed the pick-axe down so that the one end could wedge the point into the space between her horn and the ring. She would need to be careful; one screw up and she could injure her horn greatly.
Once the pick-axe was in place on both the vise and her horn, Starlight began applying gentle pressure, hoping to loosen the ring's hold on her horn. At first, there was no give, but after a few moments, she could feel the ring begin to wiggle. Encouraged by the progress, Starlight began rocking the pick-axe back and forth, slowly working the ring up her horn.
At a point where it felt the ring was loose enough to be pulled off, Starlight let the pick-axe fall on the bench. She quickly brought her hooves up to her horn and grasped the ring, forcing it to the end of her horn and off.
A searing pain began to shoot into her horn as she ripped the ring off and flung it as far as she could. With the ring now fully gone, Starlight took a moment to rest, thankful she was able to get the ring off as quick as she could to avoid the absolute worst of the anti-removal spell. Magic-inhibiting rings were made to be extraordinarily difficult for prisoners to remove them, but not completely impossible to do so.
Once the pain of the enchantment stopped, Starlight decided to try out her magic. She felt around for a lamp on the bench she could light, but found none. Then she slapped herself with a hoof.
"I can use my magic now!" she thought to herself as she focused her magic at her horn's point and began to cast a beam of light across the storeroom.
The room still had some stuff in it. Most of it was supplies the village didn't need much of; some stacks of two by four lumber and nails that could build another house if need be. Starlight walked towards the back portion of the room and found what she had been looking for: lamp oil. She then found a pair of old saddlebags and loaded up the lamp oil in them. Once she felt she had enough, she snuck back out of the room and found the lantern on the wall. She grabbed it in her magic and quickly filled it, sparking the wick with magic to get it to light.
The tunnel quickly filled with light, and Starlight looked around to see the tunnels went off a ways in each direction. The mare already knew which way she needed to go, so she took the desired tunnel and galloped off in that direction, ready to enact a plan to trap her six pursuers down here for a long time, if not permanently.
Twilight and her friends had rushed back into the mine and hopped over the opening where the pile rocks had been. The headed down into the tunnel, moving a little bit slower and using her magic and Rarity's to light up the mine tunnels ahead of them.
"We really need to be careful down here, girls," the alicorn told her friends. "It's pretty clear to me that Starlight knows plenty about these mine tunnels, and she may very well be planning an ambush for us or some kind of trap to let her slip away."
"Well, she's gonna hafta do more than what she did if she wants ta lose me!" Applejack declared with a hoof stomp.
"Right!" Rainbow Dash replied. "We'll make that mare regret even trying to escape inside these tunnels!"
"I appreciate your enthusiasm," Twilight interjected, "but we need to keep our feelings in check. She could manipulate them against us without us realizing."
"Umm..." Fluttershy spoke up.
"What is it?" Twilight asked her.
"Does anypony smell lamp oil?"
Twilight and the others quickly caught a whiff of the air, and sure enough, there was a scent of burning oil lamp.
"Let's go!" Twilight told the others as she galloped further down into the mine, her friends hot on her hooves. After a few minutes of running straight, Twilight came to a stop at an intersection of tunnels.
"Okay," she turned to her friends, "the smell is the strongest here, so there's a good chance Starlight is somewhere nearby. Let's split into pairs and search each tunnel. AJ, Pinkie, you girls keep going straight. Rainbow and Fluttershy can take the tunnel going left. Rarity and I will take this one to the right. We'll go and investigate for about five minutes or so, and then we'll all come back and compare notes. I don't expect to find Starlight so soon, but will have a better idea of which way she's likely went."
"Not to rain of yer parade, Twi," Applejack butted in, "but it's all too possible Starlight's got a trap set up somewhere and might even be bankin' her farm on us splittin' up to look for her. Maybe we should stick together?"
Twilight shook her head. "I agree that she probably has a trap set up, but we can't waste the time investigating each one as a big group. Pairing off to check each tunnel is our best option. I'll tell you what though..."
Twilight's horn glowed and three whistles came into existence.
"AJ, Rainbow and I will each take a whistle. If something happens, we can blow it or give it to the other pony so they can blow it and alert us to trouble. Sound good?"
Applejack didn't look happy, but went along with the plan anyway.
"I guess this'll work for me, but do ya think ya can magic up some kinda light for us?"
"I would, and it would help conserve my magic, but conjuring the lamps would also mean conjuring the oil. I know that there used to be miners down here, but that doesn't mean they left extra oil sitting around, and there's also the distinct possibility of the oil being so old that it's no longer usable. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can resolve that problem, but if you do find good oil, I'll see about getting us some oil lamps together; I'm not going to expend the energy until we're sure there's fresh oil down here."
"Okay, Twi," AJ relented, "We'll look for Starlight and keep our eyes peeled if we find any usable oil. Back here in five, everypony."
The group split off into pairs and went their separate ways. Applejack and Pinkie went into the left tunnel, Fluttershy and Rainbow kept going straight, and Twilight and Rarity went to the right.
The alicorn and unicorn duo kept sniffing the air, noticing that the oil lamp smell was getting stronger the further they went. "She definitely went this way," Twilight told Rarity.
"Should we head back and call for the others?" Rarity asked in response.
"Not yet. We should check this tunnel further down for-"
"HEY EVERYPONY!" Applejack's voice called out. "GET YOUR FLANKS OVER HERE!"
Twilight and Rarity did an about face, and met back up with their friends. Twilight was about to ask what they found, but then she took notice to what Applejack had in her hoof: Starlight's inhibitor ring.
"Okay, new hoofball game," Twilight said as she brought a hoof to her temple. "Starlight has the use of her magic again, and that lamp oil smell could very well be some kind of trick to get us lost in here. I think the best course of action right now is to make sure nopony gets lost down here and make some enchanted markers."
"What good is the enchanted markers gonna do us?" Applejack asked.
"Using the enchanted markers, Rarity and I can both find our way back out of these mines using a simple tracking spell. We'll split up into two groups of three. Fluttershy and Pinkie will come with me. AJ and Rainbow will go with Rarity. If either of us thinks we're getting lost, we can use the spell and locate the marker to find our way back."
"I've never used a spell like the one you're talking about, Twilight," Rarity pointed out. "How do you know I'll be able to do it?"
Twilight smiled at her. "Because it's based off of your gem location spell. You know, the one you got your cutie mark for?"
Rarity, feeling a bit embarrassed, became a bit bashful. "Well, yes, I do."
Twilight gave her a quick rundown of the spell. Applejack had went back and got some lamp oil and two lanterns, allowing the group to light their way without expending magic. Finding the tunnel going left ended rather abruptly, the groups went down the center and right tunnels, Rarity's group going straight and Twilight's going to the right. Despite the assurances they got against getting lost, all the ponies were a bit nervous about what Starlight would do if she came across them.
Starlight had found her way down the tunnel far enough she had a few minutes to think. She didn't want to go too much further; she hadn't investigated much of the mines past where she had set up the storeroom for her village's supplies. That meant that she was entering unfamiliar territory.
Slowing down a bit and getting a feel for the layout of the tunnels, Starlight figured that the ponies who created these mines didn't know much about what they were looking for. Sure, they were likely mining for gold, but they passed up mineral ores that had potentially more value, like bauxite ore that could be refined for aluminum that many ponies preferred for building sky chariots from. She made a note that if she was able to escape from here and deal with the six mares accordingly, she would get some ponies together to mine out the ore and make some money to fund a new village.
Shaking the thought from her mind, the lilac unicorn looked around for something she could use against the group.
The mine, unfortunately, yielded little to nothing to assist her. There were some crates, but none large enough for her to hide behind. She thought to use a concealment spell, but she knew that alicorn would be able to pinpoint it easily. Her best bet would be to try to create some kind of distraction.
As that thought crossed her mind, she re-examined the crates, and an idea came to her.
Twilight's group were making their way down the tunnel, keeping their eyes and ears open in the off chance that they caught sight of Starlight before she caught sight of them. The alicorn was becoming a good bit impatient, eager to catch their escaped prisoner as soon as possible and get back to Canterlot so she could be judged and punished by the princesses.
Fluttershy was in the center of the group, nervously casting her gaze to and fro, doing her best to stay calm in the dark tunnels.
"Twilight, are you sure we can't make the lantern a little brighter?" she asked in a whisper.
"I'm sure, Fluttershy," Twilight answered quietly. "If we make it any brighter than this, then there's a good chance that Starlight could see it and we'd be forced into a confrontation that we're not prepared for."
Fluttershy didn't answer immediately. Her gaze fell back onto the lantern, its light only illuminating about a pony's length of distance away from them.
"C'mon, Fluttershy," Pinkie tried to encourage her friend, earning a "Shh!" from both mares as her voice was far too loud for their liking.
"Well, Sor-ree!" Pinkie responded, quieter, but still louder than a whisper.
"Pinkie, we're getting distracted," Twilight pointed out. "We have no idea how far these tunnels go or how sturdy the support beams holding the ceiling up are. For everypony's safety, I think we should recapture Starlight and get out of here as quickly as we can."
"I agree," Fluttershy chimed in, "and..."
Fluttershy went quiet, but Twilight heard the whimpers and saw her friend's worried expression. "And...?"
"Well, if these miners hit a pocket of gas, it'll be really dangerous for anypony if we go much deeper."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Fluttershy, I know the signs of methane poisoning, and I haven't experienced any of them yet. Trust me, if I even get a little bit light-headed, we're turning around and leaving Starlight to her fate."
Fluttershy looks at Twilight in shock. "Y-You would do that?!"
Twilight looked at Fluttershy for a moment before letting out a sigh. "If there's a gas pocket down here and Starlight encountered it, she would've probably teleport-"
Suddenly, Twilight realized something she hadn't thought of before.
"Dangit! She could've went down far enough to be sure that we would follow her and then teleport back to the entrance and escape, or worse yet, destroy the entrance and trap us down here without air! We need to turn around, right now!"
"Why? You only just got here!"
A sudden shot of magic hits the ceiling of the mine, blasting a support apart and sending rock crashing down to the floor.
"Look out!" Twilight shouted as she used her magic to shove her friends out of the way. She then dives for cover as the ceiling caves in.
After a few moments to make sure she's okay, Twilight then gets back up and rushes over to the rocks.
"Fluttershy! Pinkie! Are you okay?!"
"We're fine, Twilight."
The unicorn breathes a sigh of relief as she concocts a plan.
"You two work on moving the rocks. I'll see if I can't-AAH!"
Twilight is cut off as a magic bolt sears into her flanks, knocking her back to the ground.
"So worried about your supposed friends that you forgot all about me!"
Twilight tries to stand, but can't feel her hind legs; she was hit with a paralysis spell. Moving her upper half to look behind her, she sees Starlight standing up behind some wooden crates she overlooked while distracted by Pinkie.
"You won't get away with this!" Twilight shouts at the mare.
"Oh, please!" Starlight taunts as she approaches the alicorn. "You don't stand a chance against me! Even as an alicorn, you're still much weaker than me!"
"You think you're stronger on your own? You're wrong! My friends give me strength!"
"Can it, Princess!" Starlight spits back. "If you get your strength from your friends, why are you dragging your flanks across the ground, huh?"
As if to make a point, Starlight sends another bolt at Twilight. This time, the alicorn erects a shield around herself, deflecting the bolt.
"You and your friends ruined everything for me! I had a good village full of loyal ponies. We had a utopia before you came along!"
"No you didn't! Nopony was happy with you in charge! Making ponies give up their cutie marks is unnatural!"
"Friendship is unnatural! All I've ever seen it do is set up your heart to break! Nopony in my village ever suffered a broken heart!"
Twilight glared at Starlight. "Never having a heart to break is far worse than a broken heart."
A sudden blast launches Twilight from the ground and into the rock pile created by the cave in. The mare lets out a cry as she feels the hard impact against her side and wings.
"Shut up! I've heard enough from you! Now I'm gonna make sure you suffer!"
Starlight began conjuring the most powerful spell she could think of, preparing to cast it on the alicorn before her.
"Once I'm through with you, I'll go after your friends, and then I'll get my village back, and after that, I'll take my message of sameness all across Equestria, and nopony is gonna stop me!"
Starlight had the spell formed in her mind, ready to unleash it on the alicorn.
"Now, I'm gonna make you suffer, like you made me-"
Starlight is frozen in place, her magic locked up. A look of confusion washes across her face, and she suddenly feels energy begin to emanate from her flank. The surprised mare suddenly feels all the energy and will within her leave, and she falls to the ground like a rag doll. She struggles to get back up, but the weakness feels like one ton weights around her withers and flanks. Even her neck feels like it's full of lead, and as she tries to voice her confusion, something inside compels her to speak.
"Or, maybe, I won't."
Almost as quickly as it came, the weakness and heaviness leaves, and Starlight regains her energy. Looking at her hooves in confusion, she thinks back to the feelings from before and looks at her flank. The equal sign sitting there glows for a moment and then goes dim.
For the first time, Starlight looks at her symbol of liberation from the individuality that ruined friendship for her, and instead of reverance, looks at it in horror.
She suddenly feels something shoved onto her horn, and before she can turn to see anything, Twilight hits her with her own, full-body stun spell. Frozen in place, the lilac mare can do nothing but look up at her warden, a scowl on the lavender alicorn's face.
"Now you know what all the ponies you subjected that spell to felt when they tried to embrace their individuality again."
Twilight crouches down lower to look more intimidating to the mare.
"You felt it, didn't you? That weakness washing over you, robbing you of your desire to do anything? That's what everypony you subjected that spell to felt. Did it feel as good to you as it did to them?"
Starlight couldn't voice a response. Instead, a single tear falls from her frozen eye.
"That's what I thought," Twilight concludes as she calls to her friends through the wall. "I captured Starlight. Keep working on digging out. I'm gonna ping Rarity and get the other girls down here. We'll get the tunnel fixed enough so we can get you out of there."
"Okay, Twilight!" Pinkie calls out through the rocks. "We'll get this done in a jiffy!"
Twilight smiles, then scowls as she looks at the frozen mare again. "If I were you, I wouldn't try taking that ring off anymore."
The purple alicorn puts a sleep spell on Starlight, then turns and heads back up the tunnel, hoping to reach her friends before they get too much deeper into the mine.
An hour later, and the other girls followed Pinkie and Fluttershy back to the collapsed tunnel where Twilight and Starlight were trapped. Once the path was open, the purple alicorn stepped through, carrying the now sleeping Starlight Glimmer behind her.
"Wake her up so I can chew her flank off!" Rainbow shouted as she made to dive for the unconscious unicorn, but was stopped by a blue aura.
"Rainbow, dear!" Rarity scolded her friend. "We need to keep a level head right now. We're down here in these ghastly mines and need to find our way back out so we can all get back to the train station."
"And let the royal guards have all the fun?!" Rainbow retorted, a bit of a glare on her face.
"That's enough, Rainbow," Twilight intervened. "We've had enough trouble for one day, so let's do like Rarity suggested and get out of here and to the train station."
The three other mares present voiced their agreement, as well as Rarity giving a nod.
Rainbow pouted, knowing she wouldn't win an argument against all of her friends. "Fine," she acquiesced, "Let's get out of here and head home."
Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack began heading back up the tunnel they'd came down. Twilight, however, stopped and placed Starlight on the ground.
"What're ya doin'?" Applejack asked Twilight, pausing her step.
"I'm waking her up."
Applejack raised her brow upon hearing that. "Y'all sure that's a good idea? I mean, she did just make a break for it and led us on a chase through these here mines."
"I'm not carrying her the whole way to the train, AJ, and I want her to endure the march across the desert there just like the rest of us."
AJ was going to rebut the statement, but decided to let it go. "Alright, I ain't yer ma, but I reserve the right to say ah told ya so if she gets away again."
"Duly noted," Twilight answered as she cast a counter-spell to her previous sleep spell. After a few moments, Starlight woke back up.
"On your hooves and get moving," Twilight ordered in a stern tone of voice, "and don't you dare try anything else."
Starlight looked up at the mare, and then at her flanks. Her ears pinned back against her head as she quietly got back to her hooves.
"AJ," Twilight then addressed her friend, "lead the way up. I'm staying behind her. If she tries anything, I'll stop her before she gets the chance."
Applejack didn't say anything, but gave a nod as she started moving to catch up with the others.
"Move," Twilight barked at Starlight, a strong push to the mare's flanks to get her moving. After a momentary stumble, Starlight followed AJ up and out, Twilight following closely behind.
The sextet of mares and their prisoner reached the surface and began making their way across the desert to the end of the railway. No conversations were held, and no quips were heard from the restrained unicorn. The only sounds heard were the falling of hooves against ground.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were at the front of the group, with Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie in the center. Directly behind them were Twilight and Starlight, the latter ahead of the former. The lavender alicorn glared at the lilac unicorn in front of her, ready to give her a zap in the flanks if she dared to slow down or try to make another escape.
Starlight, however, made no further effort to be as difficult as possible. Instead, the unicorn was rather cooperative, or more accurately, passive. She cooperated only in the sense that she had no other choice, instead of actually wanting to do what she was told.
Her hooves clip-clopped across the ground almost in time with the other mares trudging across the desert. Her face, where a scowl or smug grin once sat, now held a blank expression.
Whenever she could, she would sneak a subtle glance back at her flanks and the placeholder cutie mark that sat there. Her earlier self had been frustrated by her inability to completely eliminate cutie marks, so she settled on creating a false one that encompassed the core of her ideals: everypony was equal.
She remembered her first experiments with the spell, on the first ponies she had found and convinced to come to her village. Back then, they had voiced their concern and opposition to the spell, but she had assured them that what they were giving up was worth far less than what they would be gaining.
Her memories eventually led her to where it had all started way back when, when her best friend in the whole world left her, the feelings of isolation and abandonment that she felt, and ultimately, to the moment that she herself had earned her cutie mark.
Years earlier...
Starlight Glimmer, a filly just barely out of foalhood, her mane done in pig tails, sits scowling on a sofa in her childhood home.
"Starlight, you can't go your whole life without getting your cutie mark," Firelight, her father, pointed out to her, a sad tone in his voice. "Everypony finds their special talent at some point. It's part of your destiny."
Starlight turned her scowl towards her father. "BUT I DON'T WANT IT!"
The stallion looked at his daughter with worry. "Sweetheart, why wouldn't you want a cutie mark?"
"BECAUSE THEY'RE EVIL!" she spat back, crossing her hooves over her barrel and pouting.
"Starlight, cutie marks aren't evil."
"Then why did they take Sunburst away?!"
"Starlight, Sunburst's cutie mark didn't take him away from here. He went to Canterlot because of how much talent he has with magic. If you keep working at it, you could go to school with him in Canterlot too."
Starlight averted her gaze. "He doesn't wanna see me anymore."
"Sweetheart-"
"I don't care!" Starlight cut her father off. "I don't want a cutie mark! I never want a cutie mark!"
With her piece said, the filly bolts from the living room and out of the house, her father calling after her.
"STARLIGHT!" he pleaded to her, but his pleas fell on willfully-deaf ears.
The young unicorn filly galloped away from her home and into a nearby forest. Weaving between trees, bushes, briers, brambles and the occasional boulder here and there, Starlight eventually found herself alone in a clearing with a boulder large enough to climb onto and rest a bit away from the edge. The young mare did just that, sitting atop the stone and pouting.
"Stupid cutie marks!" she said to herself. "Why do ponies have them anyways? They don't really do all that much anyhow!"
"Tell us our destiny? HA! You gotta have a pretty narrow mind to think some magic picture on your flank tells you how the rest of your life is gonna go!"
"Well, I'm certainly not gonna let that happen to me!"
Starlight then stood up on the boulder and made a loud declaration.
"I'm not letting some picture on my flank end tell me how to live my life! I'm never gonna get a cutie mark, and if I ever do, I'll find a way to get rid of it for good!"
The impassioned speech the mare gave to nopony in particular had gotten her all fired up and full of vitriol. Needing to let off the steam, she spied another boulder just a bit inside the treeline on the opposite side of the clearing. Focusing her magic, she let out a loud yell as she sent a cutting beam of magic in its direction.
As soon as the spell connected, the boulder, and anything in the immediate vicinity of it exploded into dust and splinters. Starlight squeaked as she dropped down behind the boulder she was on and covered her head with her hooves. Pieces of the boulder and trees began pelting the ground around her, a few skipping off the boulder she was hiding behind. Once the sounds stopped, Starlight uncovered her head and looked at where she had aimed her spell.
The boulder, and a radius of about ten pony-lengths of forest were no more. The trees just outside the radius were tilted away from the blast, some almost completely uprooted from the force of the spell.
"Wow!" Starlight said in amazement. "I had no idea I was that powerful."
Stepping out from behind the boulder to examine the damage more closely, the filly saw that some of the pieces of wood nearest the epicenter had undergone a drastic transformation, the sudden heat and pressure release being so great that it actually turned some of the particles to diamond, if the small white gemstones were to be believed.
"I just wanted to get out my frustrations, but I ended up really doing a number on that boulder," she commented as she examined the few pieces she saw remaining of it. "I know that unicorns that are really feeling particular emotions often get a boost to the spells they're casting, but this looks like I could match the princess with raw power alone. Well, maybe if I train myself more."
Starlight then smiled. "Imagine me, becoming so powerful I could take on Princess Celestia in a duel. I could beat her and become an alicorn myself!"
The filly started to do a happy dance, realizing what kind of a goal could lay before her. She couldn't recall a time she had felt so happy in all her life!
Then, she felt it. A sudden tingling on her flanks. A fear and revulsion suddenly overcame her as she looked back at her flanks, silently hoping that there was nothing there.
Alas, there was.
Almost as though it were a tattoo on bare skin, Starlight saw an eight-pointed purple-and-white star, with two teal streaks directly above it.
There were no words from the filly as her face scowled, then turned into one filled with rage. She screamed as loud as she had ever screamed before, so much that almost anypony within earshot would come running and expect her to be attacked by a bear or something similar.
"NOOOOO!" she cried out as she dropped to her flanks. "NO! NO! NO! I DON'T WANT IT! I DON'T WANT A CUTIE MARK!"
Starlight began crying as she tried in vain to rub it off of her flanks, but her efforts were futile, and the mark stayed. She sat there for a few moments weeping, until her tears had eventually ran themselves out and left the girl with nothing but choked sobs.
Eventually, her sobbing ceased, and a look of determination clear on her muzzle.
"I will not keep this cursed thing," she promised to herself. "I will find a way to remove it, and but rid of it, permanently!"
For Starlight the filly, getting a cutie mark was the worst thing that could happen to her. As she became an adult, she made peace with the fact that it had happened, and begrudgingly admitted that her father had been right about the whole "unavoidable" thing. Nonetheless, she swore to rid herself of the thing, somehow.
She had met her first followers, and they worked together to help her craft the spell, under the false pretense that it could be used as a therapy tool for couples. Take the two cutie marks and switch them around, and let that pony walk the proverbial "mile in their horseshoes", as it were.
Starlight remembered the moment well when she had used the spell on them. They had looked at her with such feelings of betrayal in their eyes, but they said nothing else as she had assured them that they would help create a utopia where all ponies could truly be equal, and things such as a special talent couldn't drive a wedge between one pony and another.
Now, though...
Starlight regretted ever having the idea to create that spell. The feelings that she underwent as it had its effect on her for the first time were something she wouldn't wish on anypony.
The sudden weakness. The intense apathy. The pressure in her mind to acquiesce to those feelings that discouraged her from wanting to retaliate against Twilight.
All of it was horrible, but the last one really hit home. She had remembered clear as day what Sugar Belle and Ancient Tome had told her.
"You took away our individuality, and with it, our sense of self."
"When you took our cutie marks, you took away the very things that made us us.
Starlight gave those remarks no thought or care, dismissing them as the diatribes of ponies that were angry because they felt they had been betrayed.
Now, she understood. She had betrayed them. All of them had either made peace with the fact she had taken their cutie marks, convinced that they were giving them up to help build a better future, or had been convinced to do so in order to join the village.
She had taken so many cutie marks over the years, but had never had her own removed. She never went through what all of them had.
She tried to justify it when the farce had been revealed, claiming that the spell could only be carried out by her, and that she needed her cutie mark to be able to perform it.
Nopony listened; they only heard lies and betrayal, and chased her out of her village, and forced her into those caves where she was captured.
She was brought back, and the ponies in town punished her the only way they saw fit. They'd taken her mark and left her with the equal sign that had become the symbol of her village.
The feelings of guilt began weighing on Starlight as she kept moving behind the group, and just ahead of the alicorn who would zap her if she dared to even slow just a little. They were welling up in her chest, and the unicorn was doing her best not to sob, though small trickles of tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.
"We're almost there!" Rainbow had called out, jumping up and hovering a few ponies above the group as she pointed with a hoof towards the horizon.
Sure enough, the outline of the train station was coming into view, and Starlight could see a train was sitting there, the conductor having turned the locomotive around on the crude turntable some of her ponies had built before leaving Equestria behind for the promises of her village.
Starlight winced at the thought, another sack of weight on the scale that was her heart.
"What happened?" a guard asked as he approached the group.
"Our prisoner attempted to make an escape," Twilight explained as she moved in front of her friends. "We've recaptured her and made sure she wouldn't attempt it a second time."
The guard bowed his head briefly and raised it again to meet her. "Very well, your highness. We'll take over watching the prisoner from here." He turned around and gestured to another pair of guards, one unicorn and one pegasus, who moved on either side of Starlight.
"Move forward," the guard on her left said, while the one on her right smacked her flanks with a spear, causing her to yelp a bit as she moved forward.
She was led onto the train and into a private car. The guard from her left side had went in first and cast a spell on the single window in the compartment; an enchantment to prevent her escape, most likely.
"You can't get out through that window," the guard explained. "Even if you open it fully, the barrier will stop you."
Starlight blinked, not expecting to be allowed to open the window.
"You'll be given a meal at our evening mess," he continued, "but I wouldn't expect vegetable quiche and potato soup."
The second guard gave her flanks another slap, moving the mare forward. "I wouldn't try making an escape through this door, either," he warned her. "The guards have already been warned of your previous attempt and are going to be doubly cautious."
The two guards then left and closed the door. A shimmering sound told Starlight that another enchantment had been placed on the door, this one most likely keeping the door completely shut unless opened from the outside.
Left as alone as could be for the moment, Starlight's emotions finally collapsed down onto her conscience, and the mare proceeded to bolt for the cot in the cabin, grabbing the pillow resting there, stuffing her face into it, and sobbing so hard and for so long, the mare had actually cried herself to sleep.
Something jolted Starlight from her sleep. Quickly looking around for the source of the disruption to her sleep, she discovered that she wasn't on a train heading to Canterlot. Instead, she was back in her home in her village, laying on her couch.
"What's going on?" she thought as she stood up and examined her surroundings, finding nothing of her old home amiss. "Where did those six go?"
She moved next to her front door. Opening it, she looked out to see her village, and everypony in it going about their morning. Stallions and mares offered polite, yet unenthusiastic greetings to one another as they passed. Foals were quietly making their way to the designated schoolhouse for the day's lesson. Even the youngest foals in the village were rather quiet as far as children went.
The sight confused Starlight greatly.
"What's everypony doing?" she thought to herself. "I thought everypony got their cutie marks back from the vault?"
Spotting a familiar stallion walking in front of her house, Starlight called out to him.
"Diamond!"
The white pony turned and looked at her with a half-smile. "Good morning, Starlight."
"What's everypony doing?"
Diamond looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"
"What do I mean?! Why doesn't everypony have their cutie mark?!"
The stallion laughed. "Because everypony gave them up, just like you asked us to."
"But what about the six mares?! The ones that came here because that map sent them?!"
Again, Diamond chuckled. "I think you may have come down with something, Starlight. We haven't had any new ponies come here for a while. Do you think we need to find some more to recruit?"
Starlight went to further rebutt his statements, but stopped as she looked back at her flanks. Instead of the mark she had earned in the forest as a filly, the charcoal-grey equal sign sat in its place. The sight of the mark only confused the mare even more than she already was.
"But... I could've sworn..."
"Are you okay, Starlight?" Diamond asked, his laughter having ceased and genuine concern now present in his voice.
"Uh, yeah," she answered him after a moment. "Just, uh, had a strange dream. I thought it was still going on for a moment. Go ahead and go back to what you were doing."
"Are you sure?" he prodded, not entirely convinced by her response.
"I'm sure," she replied, giving an additional head nod. "Go ahead and get back to whatever you were doing."
Diamond stayed in place for a moment before he decided to let things go. "Okay. Just... if you're not feeling well, don't be afraid to talk to somepony."
"I will," she said with a smile, hoping it would get the stallion to go about his business.
It did, as Diamond continued walking towards his original objective. Starlight stepped back inside and closed the door. Quickly, she locked the door, drew her curtains shut and went over to her vanity. Grabbing a bucket of water, she dumped it on her flanks. The painted-on cutie mark was quickly dispelled, and her natural cutie mark was revealed underneath it.
Dropping the bucket, she sat down on the stool and looked at her reflection in the mirror.
What is happening? she asked aloud to herself. I could swear it was real!
Those six mares showing up, me taking their marks, them revealing my deception, the village turning against me and taking my mark, my escape attempt, and my attempt at revenge!
It all felt so real!
Was it really all just a dream?
Shaking her head, she sat down and went about reapplying the fake cutie mark, covering over natural one with paint matching her coat color, drying it on, and then adding the equal sign in its place. However, when she got to adding the fake mark, she paused.
Did she really want to do this? After what had happened?
But... did it actually happen?
She shook her head and added the mark. What was real and what wasn't could wait until later. If she stayed in her house too much longer, ponies would start to get curious and pay her a visit, and she wasn't in a good state of mind for house guests.
Stepping out of her house for the day, Starlight saw her villagers going to and from each other's homes. Just as in the main portion of Equestria, small towns often had homes double as businesses, with ponies being things such as bakers, tailors, contractors, or artisans. So, each did what they could to support the other villagers, while also supporting themselves.
It was a good system, Starlight thought, that ponies worked to support each other, and everypony reaped the benefits in the grand scheme of things.
Her thoughts turned to her usual to-do list as leader. First would be checking with the ponies responsible for food and finding out what they would need. To that end, her first stop would be to Sugar Belle to see if she would need any of her ingredients.
Finding the mare at this time of day was a no-brainier; look for the hungry ponies getting breakfast. Sure enough, there was a crowd gathered around a home with some outdoor tables set up outside. Approaching with a smile, Starlight went ti greet some of the gathered ponies eating there.
However, as soon as she got close, a few of them took notice of her and immediately hushed their conversation.
Seeing this caused Starlight to pause in step. What were they talking about that they wouldn't want her overhearing?
"Starlight?"
Her train of thought was interrupted by Sugar Belle, who noticed Starlight's approach and moved to meet her.
"Hi Sugar Belle. Just checking to see if you need any ingredients for your baked goods."
"My muffins?"
"Uh, yeah, those."
Sugar Belle thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Nope, I have everything I need for the recipe."
"Okay. Just let me know when you need anything and we'll make sure you get it."
"I will," Sugar Belle replied, giving a small smile as Starlight turned to walk away.
The lilac mare and village leader was about to move on, but she took an extra second to look over the baker mare.
Did her smile always look that forced? she pondered to herself.
Shaking the thought from her head, she moved on to the ponies that took care of whatever clothing items may be needed. Granted, there wasn't much needed in the way of clothing, but things for the rainy weather and hats for the really sunny and hot days were good reasons to maintain a small wardrobe.
Coming to another house in the two rows, Starlight saw Silk Loom, a mare and dressmaker, sitting at a table and working on her namesake. "Hello, Loom," she greeted as she waved a hoof.
"Good morning, Starlight," came the mare's reply. "Anything I can make for you today?"
"Oh, Thank you, but I have all I need. I actually came by to see if you need any more material for clothes."
"Well, I think we have all we need. Got all the colors in the wheel right here in my basket."
Loom opened a basket and pointed to each small bolt of fabric, rattling off the names of each color visible.
"I got my beige, taupe, eggshell, cream, wheat, mint, robin egg blue-"
"I see you have what you need," Starlight cut her off. "Just let me know if you get low or run out of something. I'll be sure to place an order for it."
"Will do," Loom answered, closing the lid on the basket, but not before Starlight took notice of a swath of fabric colored hot pink.
I thought that was a color that we deemed too unique? Starlight thought, but dismissed just as quickly; she had more stops to make.
Starlight finished her rounds feeling more confused and conflicted about what she saw. After speaking with Silk Loom, she next saw Bonded Guild, the contractor and architect who helped design and build the village. He did have need of materials, as well as some new tools to replace some of his old and worn ones. She made note of the request and left, but not before making a mental note of Guild's apparent distaste for plans he had to construct new homes for any new residents which may find their way to the village.
It can't be because of having to build the homes; Bonded has always loved to do stuff like that, Starlight reasoned to herself. Is there something in the building plans that isn't to his liking? Perhaps, but why not talk to me about it?
The last stop was what she referred to as the village artisans, but calling them that was only a technicality. In truth, they were potters, mostly. Each of them made various types of pottery, only adding some simple glazes with very limited ranges of color added to them.
The only pony that wasn't a potter was the blacksmith, and he mostly crafted very basic necessities, none of which had any kind of flare to them.
They also made a request of Starlight, with the potters needing more glaze for their pots, and the blacksmith requiring more iron to make items Bonded Guild would need for his building project. The mare jotted down the needs and left them, but couldn't help but overhear the group talking about how they somehow located a magazine with information about a new glaze pigment that made it look like the pot was made of genuine rainbow, and then lamenting how they wouldn't be able to get it.
Making her way back to her home at around what she figured was lunch time, Starlight kept pondering everything she had seen. The ponies in town didn't act any differently than they had before, for the most part; she didn't recall any of them ever sneaking around before...
...or did they?
Had she been so oblivious before now that she never noticed ponies talking in hushed whispers behind her back?
Or worse yet, had she noticed and simply chose to be woefully ignorant of them?
Without thinking, Starlight opened the door and walked in. After closing and locking it, she turned and sat down on the floor by the entrance.
"None of this makes sense," she thought out loud. "I know those mares came here the day before, and I know they exposed me and freed everypony's marks yesterday, so why is everything set back like it never happened?"
"Starlight?"
The sudden voice caught the mare off guard, and prompted her to finally look up and over at her couch.
Sitting there with a tea set and several cups were Double Diamond and a second stallion. The newcomer gave a sheepish smile and waved one of his white hooves at her. Diamond looked at her and then made a gesture towards the stallion.
"We had a newcomer approach the village," the stallion explained. "He said he heard about what we were doing and wanted to check it out. I started to explain how everything works around here and mentioned your name. He said he knows you from way back when you grew up in a town called Sire's Hollow. Do you know him?"
Starlight adopted her own sheepish smile. "I do, Diamond, but it's been a long time. We were still foals when he went away to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."
The lilac mare then turned to the new stallion and gave him a wave.
The room remained quiet for a moment as Starlight took in the sight of her long lost friend. He was orange and white, just as she had remembered, with cyan blue eyes and the cutie mark he'd gotten in her father's living room the day before he'd left.
What was new to her was his somewhat unkempt hair, and the goat strap he sported on the end of his muzzle. He'd also taken to wearing a cloak covered in stars, and was wearing a set of spectacles.
"Hi Starlight," the stallion answered, returning the greeting she'd given him moments before.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"I heard about a village where ponies were wanting to find the true essence of friendship, and the ones that I spoke to about it seemed well and truly happy, so, I decided to come check it out for myself."
Upon hearing that, Starlight was a mix of emotions. Seeing her childhood friend for the first time in many years, and now as an adult, gave her all manner of different feelings.
The biggest of those, however, was apprehension. Sunburst had just told her that he came here to see what her village was about, but would he want to stay once he actually learned everything about it?
"Double Diamond was just telling me that you were the one who helped start this place," Sunburst continued, now with a more sincere smile. "I always knew you would go on to do something like this."
Starlight didn't respond, or rather, she couldn't; her brain was still processing that this specific stallion was here and in front of her.
Double Diamond, however, saw that the mare needed a moment alone to talk with the new stallion, so he stood up and excused himself to some imaginary task. As he walked by Starlight, he shot her a whisper.
"I'll get everything ready for his initiation ceremony."
Starlight turned and watched the white stallion walk out the door. Once it was closed behind him, reality began catching up with her.
"So, how did you come up with this-"
Sunburst's question was stifled by a hoof pushed against his mouth.
"Sunny, we need to leave, now!"
Pushing her hoof away, Sunburst looks at Starlight with confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Sunny, they're gonna take your cutie mark!" she explained. "The fact that you came here and seen all of this means they won't let you leave! They'll take away your cutie mark and you'll lose all your magic talent!"
"They'll... take away my cutie mark?"
"Yes, Sunny, they'll take it right away. Put it in a glass case and store it in a vault, and you'll never get it back!"
"But... why? Why take my cutie mark?"
Starlight let out a sigh, ashamed of what she would have to tell her friend. "They'll take it because that's the price of being a part of this village."
"What do you mean? I still don't really understand this."
"...I'll explain it all to you. Just have a seat on the sofa. Let me brew some tea for us to have while I explain everything."
Sunburst agreed and took a seat on Starlight's sofa. Heading to the kitchen and coming back later with a kettle and two cups, she set it down and poured her old friend a drink.
"It started after you left to go to Princess Celestia's school," she began. "I was the only foal left around here, and I was feeling really alone. I started to become really resentful, and especially of cutie marks, since you left me after you got yours."
"As I got older, I wanted to create a world where cutie marks never separated ponies, and everypony was just as special and important as the next, or at least, by my way of seeing things."
"Some ponies I met that shared my view helped me to create this village, and recruit some other ponies to follow us, and then we created a spell. It would take a pony's original cutie mark and replace it with a new one. This one would represent the cause behind our village, where nopony was more important or special than another; where everypony would be equal."
To emphasize her point, Starlight gestured to the equal sign on her own flank, but grimaced at it, for it being both a fake and a symbol of wrongness in her newly altered view of things.
"So, whenever a new pony joins our village, we have a ceremony where the new pony has their cutie mark removed and gets it replaced with one of these."
"I get it," Sunburst then said to Starlight. "It's kind of like a village uniform, but just a little bit more involved than putting a shirt on. Honestly, the whole process kind of has my interest now."
"Well, it shouldn't!" Starlight told her friend, punctuating her tone by planting a hoof against her coffee table hard enough to shake the tea set sitting on it. "That process is... horrible, Sunburst. It's like it's taking a way a piece of your soul; a part of you that leaves a big empty hole when it's gone. You don't want to know what it feels like!"
"But if it's so horrible, why do you make new villagers do it?"
Starlight looked away, the feelings of shame welling up in her again. "Because I never knew how bad it was until recently."
"Recently?" Sunburst repeated, clearly confused.
"I only just experienced the spell for myself, felt the horrible effects of it."
"But why only recently? Didn't you have the spell performed on you as well?"
Starlight answered by taking a nearby cloth and dipping it into a glass of water, then she moved her flanks so that Sunburst could more easily see them. Applying the cloth, she began rubbing off the paint and makeup hiding her true cutie mark.
When finished, she tossed the rag onto her coffee table, letting Sunburst see her real cutie mark that had been hiding underneath. "So, you've been faking it? Having your cutie mark taken away?"
Starlight looked away and nodded, not able to look at him with the shame she felt.
"So... nopony outside knows that you still have your own cutie mark?"
"No, they don't, but at this point, I don't care if they do find out. I've been a horrible leader to them, Sunny, asking them to give up their special talents while I keep my own. I'm nothing more than a great big hypocrite!"
With that admission, Starlight buried her face in the pillow she'd been leaning against and let her sobs come out. She sat there for a few moments, letting the tears come and stain her pillow. Sunburst didn't say anything for a few moments, and the lilac mare wasn't sure he should, not after learning what she had done.
Finally, he did speak. "I'm sorry, Starlight."
The mare looked up at the stallion, seeing regret clear as day in his eyes.
"Everything you've been feeling up to this point has been because of me. I should've wrote to you from school, told you about everything I was experiencing. Maybe you could've even practiced and gotten good enough to come and attend school with me. I never thought to write home. I'm such an idiot!"
Sunburst buried his face in his hooves, his inattentiveness towards his friend having revealed its fruits to him.
Starlight, seeing she was not alone in her laments, let out a chuckle. "I guess we've both done things we wished we could take back, huh?"
The stallion raised his head to look at the mare and gave a small smile to her. "Yeah, I guess we have."
Suddenly, there was a knocking at Starlight's door.
"Starlight," came Diamond's voice, "we're ready for the new villager ceremony."
Both ponies looked at each other with fear in their eyes.
"Um, okay," Starlight answered. "Give us a moment, please."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything's fine. Just need a few more moments is all."
"Okay. We're all set up out front here and waiting for you when you're ready."
"Very good, thank you."
Hoofsteps were heard moving away. Once sure nopony was within earshot, Starlight shot Sunburst a terrified look.
"We need to get you out of here, now!"
Sunburst, mirroring her terror, looked around the room. "But where can I go?"
"There's a place I know where you can hide out, but we gotta get out of here to get you there."
"But how are we getting out of here?"
"I have a cellar with a tunnel that leads outside the village. Just follow me and don't stop moving."
Starlight rushed into her backroom, Sunburst hot on her hooves. Once there, she cast aside her bed, revealing the cellar underneath.
"Come on!" she told Sunburst, charging down into the cellar.
Sunburst did as told, keeping no more than a pony's length away from the mare in front of him.
Behind the two, they heard a commotion as the ponies outside came into the house in search of them. Starlight urged Sunburst to pour on more steam, rushing for the pinprick of light getting larger up ahead.
"Come on, Sunny!" Starlight called out behind her. "Just a little further!"
Sunburst was going as fast as he could, but clearly, he did not have the endurance of his friend. Soon enough, the distance between the two began to lengthen.
"Starlight," Sunburst gasped out after her. "I can't... hah...keep up...hah!"
"You have to!" she shouted back at him. "Keep-"
Staright stopped dead in her tracks. At the end of the tunnel stood a shadowy form. It looked like an alicorn, with long horn and big, feathery wings, but she couldn't make out any features to discern which one it could've been.
The only thing she could tell, though, was that the alicorn was not there to offer her assistance. The terror inside herself shot up so high that it overrode her normally calm demeanor during stressful situations and caused her to turn around and shoot back down the tunnel, where she promptly ran head first into Sunburst.
Both ponies hit the ground, letting out groans of pain and reaching their hooves to their heads. Once somewhat recovered, Starlight looked around to see if anypony had caught up to them.
The only pony she saw was the alicorn, who stood over the two as they looked on in fear.
"Starlight?" Sunburst asked, fear clear in his voice.
Starlight said nothing, jumping to her hooves and reaching out to her friend.
"Come on, Sunny!" she implored him, but stopped speaking as she saw a magic aura envelop her hoof, and subsequently felt it covering her body. She then took notice of the same aura covering Sunburst, the colt watching it wash over him as he then looked at Starlight with pleading eyes.
Starlight looked away in shame.
"I'm sorry," was all she could say before the aura glowed bright and flashed, and the two disappeared from the tunnel.
A bright flash had dropped Starlight and Sunburst back out in front of Starlight's home in her village. The two unicorns recovered quickly, looking around at their surroundings and instantly feeling intense dread.
"Why did that pony drop us off back here?" Sunburst asked aloud. "Were they one of the villagers?"
"No," Starlight answered. "I don't know which alicorn that was, but there's no alicorn as a part of our village."
"It was an alicorn?"
"Yeah. Didn't you see the wings and horn?"
Sunburst looked away sheepishly. "I... might have been too scared to notice."
Starlight didn't say anything. Instead, she jumped back up onto her hooves.
"It doesn't matter, Sunburst. We need to get moving before the others find you."
Sunburst thought for a moment and gave her a nod, getting back on his hooves and moving next to her. Starlight made a gesture with her hoof for him to follow, and the two made their way out of the village.
The two ponies had gotten a few hours head start, or at least that's what Starlight had estimated. Finding a place among some rocks which could help camouflage a campfire, both Starlight and Sunburst agreed to make a camp for the evening, and then leave as soon as the sun was back up in the sky.
Resting on the ground beside the campfire, both ponies had not said much to one another since deciding to make camp. Sunburst seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, while Starlight was lost in her own. The mare kept wondering to herself what she was gonna do once the villagers caught up with them.
What would happen once they did?
Nothing good, she was certain.
"Starlight?"
The unicorn looked over at Sunburst, seeing the concern on the stallion's face.
"You said you started that village back there, right? Why did you start it?"
Starlight was dreading this moment. She'd now have to explain herself to her friend, tell him about everything she'd done and all the thoughts and reasons that she had.
"Starlight?" he prodded again.
"...It's a long story," she finally answered, sitting up to face her friend. Seeing her movements, Sunburst rose up to give her his full attention.
"It all started after you left," she began, then paused.
"When I left?" Sunburst repeated. "You mean when I went to Princess Celestia's school?"
"Yeah," Starlight confirmed, a bit of bitterness seeping into her voice.
"That was so long ago. You really wanted to start a vil-"
"NO!" Starlight exploded, the feelings she'd tried to bottle up boiling over and now being directed at the stallion in front of her.
"I didn't want to start a village! I wanted my friend back!"
Sunburst quickly adopted a defensive pose, taken aback by his friend's sudden change in mood.
"You never wrote me once you got to that school! You were doing so well with your new friends that you NEVER ONCE THOUGHT OF WRITING TO ME!"
Sunburst tried to form a response, but all he could do was repeatedly open and shut his mouth in a poor imitation of a fish.
"You were so busy studying all that fancy magic and living up to your potential that you COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT ME!"
Starlight's anger then grew to desire a physical outlet, which resulted in the mare picking up a nearby pebble in her magic and hurling it at her friend.
Upon seeing the stone coming for his face, Sunburst made an attempt to duck out of the way, but he was too late, as the pebble struck the frame of his spectacles and shattered a lens.
Neither Starlight or Sunburst said anything for a few moments. The mare's anger quickly died as she saw the end result of her actions, a few pieces of glass from the lens of his spectacles scattered around her friend's hooves, the frames lying among them.
After a moment, Sunburst finally put together a response.
"You're right, Starlight. I didn't write to you like I should have, but it wasn't because I was having fun with new friends."
Starlight's mouth dropped as she looked at her friend. His gaze met hers, and she could now see that he had a small line of red growing next to one of his eyes.
"I didn't write to you, or anypony back in Sire's Hollow. The only pony I wrote was my mom, and that was just to feed her lines. The truth is... I dropped out of school."
The revelation caused Starlight to drop flat on her flanks. Sunburst dropped out of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?
"B-But... your cutie mark?" She stuttered.
"I'm a great theorist with magic," he answered, "but it only goes as far as theory. If I try to cast any of the spells I create, they backfire every time."
With this admission, Sunburst hung his head in shame. Starlight, having seen her friend's shame laid bare, felt worse than she had back in the mines when the equality spell took hold of her.
"I'm sorry, Sunburst. I had no idea."
"It's okay," he answered, looking away so he wouldn't have to meet her gaze. "I've accepted that I'm not as great as I once thought I was. Not everypony has the potential to do amazing things."
"But you do!" Starlight countered. "Sure, you might not have the skill to do those spells yourself, but that doesn't mean you can't make a huge impact! Hay, even the princesses could find a great use for you!"
Sunburst didn't say anything, still feeling ashamed of admitting his failure in Celestia's school. Starlight wanted to offer further encouragement, but couldn't think of anything else to offer her friend at the moment. Eventually, she let out a sigh.
"I guess we both aren't quite where we thought we'd be one day," she eventually conceded. "You dropped out of Celestia's school, and I created a village that convinces ponies to abandon cutie marks."
To this, Sunburst did finally respond.
"I'm still having a hard time with that. Why would you create a village that made ponies give up their cutie marks?"
Starlight scuffed a hoof in the dirt for a moment before answering.
"Honestly, it's because I grew to hate cutie marks. After you got yours, you left and I didn't have anypony else besides dad. When I never heard anything from you, I guess I just let that hate bottle up until some other ponies and I figured out a way to remove them and I started my equality movement."
Sunburst blinked for a few moments before he asked her a simple question. A very simple question that would effectively destroy her world.
"I know I didn't ever write you, but I never got any letters from you either. How come you never tried to write to me?"
Starlight was about to offer a response, but stopped and went wide-eyed. In all the time that she had been a filly and had grown to resent cutie marks, she had never once thought to write Sunburst and ask how he was doing.
With that revelation, Starlight let out a loud wail.
"OH MY CELESTIA, I'M SO STUPID!"
Sunburst jolted back, caught off-guard by the mare's outburst. "What?!"
"All those years ago! I never once thought to write you! I was so obsessed with hating cutie marks, I never thought about just writing a letter and asking how you were doing at Celestia's school! I'm such a dunce!"
Starlight got up and began kicking random stones scattered around the campsite, letting out screams as she did so. The point that Sunburst had accidentally made had the unicorn questioning herself and every decision she'd made since she and the colt were separated so many years ago.
If she had wrote him, would she still have resented cutie marks?
Would she have studied hard and attended Celestia's school herself?
Could she have helped Sunburst to improve his magic and maybe convinced him to stay in school and graduate?
...Would they have gotten closer and become colt and filly friends?
"I can't believe I've been so dumb!" she finished, dropping to her flanks after kicking another rock off into the dark night of the desert. "I should've wrote you! Everything could've been so much different."
Sunburst, seeing his friend finally calming down, moved over to her and placed a hoof on her withers.
"It's in the past now, but that doesn't have to dictate the future."
"But all those ponies whose cutie marks I took..."
"We can go give them back. You can tell them the mistake you made."
"...I'm not sure I can."
Sunburst looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Starlight looked the stallion in the eyes. "I've had that village going strong for several years now, Sunny. The ponies who helped me start it have been following my ideas for nearly a decade now, and pretty much all of them have bought into it completely. Can you imagine ponies that dedicated to an idea hearing that their leader has decided to abandon those ideals? What do you think they'd do?"
Sunburst sat and considered the argument, then frowned as he understood. "We can't go back there."
"Wrong. you can't go back."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm the village leader. I have to go back regardless. If you go back, they'll try to convert you and take your cutie mark by force. It's..."
Starlight paused, a look of shame crossing her face.
"It's what we usually do when we have outsiders come into the village."
Sunburst sat confused for all of two seconds, until understanding, and then horror crossed his own face.
"You've foalnapped ponies?!"
Starlight hung her head. "Yeah, we did, and I regret every moment of it now."
"And you were gonna do that to me?!"
Starlight, hearing the alarm in her friend's voice, looked up at him in a panic.
"No, Sunny! Never in a million years! That's why I'm trying to get you away from there!"
"Well, you failed in that endeavor Starlight."
The voice made the unicorn's blood run cold. Coming in from the darkness around their campfire was none other than Double Diamond, and immediately behind him was Ancient Tome, his magic ready to cast a spell on both ponies.
"Why Starlight?" Diamond addressed the mare. "Why are you abandoning our ways?"
"I'm not!" she denied. "The way of our village isn't a good fit for Sunburst!"
"Isn't that up to him to decide?"
"He has decided! He doesn't want to stay in our village!"
"I don't hear him saying that."
"I don't!" Sunburst spoke up. "What is going on in that village is not only immoral, but also illegal!"
"Illegal?" Diamond said with a stunned look. "How is it illegal?"
"You're foalnapping ponies! Taking them prisoner and subjecting them to your ways!"
"Everypony is free to come and go as they please, Sunburst," Diamond told the stallion, his tone seeming to imply he was giving a satisfactory explanation of things. "However, by the time everypony has heard our story and learned of our ways, they never want to leave."
"Horseapples!" Sunburst spat back. "Nopony leaves because nopony lets them!"
Diamond looked down at the ground for a moment, but when he looked up again, his face had a deep scowl.
"I see how it is. If you won't give our village a chance, then we'll just have to show you the benefits of our ways."
Sunburst lit up his horn in preparation to defend himself from Diamond, but a magic bolt struck him hard in the flanks, sending him to the ground and into a heap. Groaning in pain, he attempted to stand up, only to find his legs wouldn't respond.
"Starlight!" he cried out to the mare. "They cast a stun spell on me! Quick! Cast the counterspell!"
Starlight attempted to do just that, but she suddenly found herself tackled to the ground. More of the villagers had appeared and surrounded the two ponies.
"Let us up!" she barked at the ponies. "I demand it as your leader!"
"You're not our leader anymore," Ancient Tome told her, "and especially not after you demonstrated that even you are susceptible to the call of your cutie mark and its desire to lead you astray. We'll choose a new leader, and then we'll make sure that you are properly re-educated. In time, you'll come to thank us for this."
Starlight couldn't say anything, too shocked by how cold the stallion sounded as he approached Sunburst. Trying to think quickly, she conjured a spell in her mind to send ponies flying. The magic, however, never manifested as it should have. Rather, it only sparked briefly before fizzling out.
"Wh-What?!"
"Now, Sunburst," Tome continued as he approached the immobile stallion, "it is time for you to learn first-hoof of our ways and be initiated into our village."
"NO!" Starlight cried out, fighting against the ponies that were pinning her down, but to no avail.
Ancient Tome looked over a scroll he had with him and gave a nod. Putting it away, he looked at Sunburst as his horn ignited.
"NO!"
Sunburst was then enveloped in magic, and he began to scream in pain. His cutie mark was being pulled off his flank, but his will fought to keep it attached to himself, not wishing to be removed from the destiny it had been given.
Alas, as happened many times before, the cutie mark eventually gave way and separated from its owner. Sunburst's pained cries stopped, and the stallion fell unconscious, his coat noticeably duller and an equal sign now adorning his flanks.
The cutie mark of a sun and shimmers was then taken and placed in a jar, a lid screwed firmly on top and a special spell locking it into place. With the process complete, Ancient Tome cast the counterspell to the stun spell, allowing the now recovered Sunburst to stand up on his hooves.
"Well, Sunburst," Diamond said as he approached the stallion, "Welcome to Our Town."
"...No."
Starlight had watched the entire event unfold before her. Sunburst's cutie mark had been taken from him, and now he was subject to the same horrible spell she'd used on so many ponies before. The tears poured from her eyes without so much as a sob as she saw her oldest friend looking at his flanks with the most defeated expression she'd ever seen on a pony.
"This is all my fault," she said to herself.
"Now for you, Starlight."
The mare's crying ceased as she looked up at Ancient Tome, magic again enveloping his horn.
"Now we'll take back your cutie mark and get both of you back to the village so we can educate, and re-educate, you two on the benefits of our ways."
Starlight cried out in protest, but she could not find the ability to cast anything more than a simple telekinesis spell, which did her no good at the moment. Soon enough, she felt herself enveloped in magic and an intense pull from somewhere inside her. She fought it as best she could, but there was simply no use. Feeling something inside herself give way, her coat immediately faded as her cutie mark floated before her face and went inside another glass jar.
"Very good, Ancient Tome," Diamond praised the stallion, who simply shrugged it off with a simple thanks. The white stallion then looked at another two ponies who were standing nearby with a wood cart with a large metal cage on it.
"Load them up so we can get back to the village. We keep going, we'll get back in time to catch a few winks before Celestia raises the sun."
The two ponies nod and set to work, taking hold of Sunburst and Starlight and leading them to the cart. Once inside, the two hitch up and head back towards the village with the other ponies.
Inside the cage, Starlight watched Sunburst, who in turn watched his own hooves. The mare wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything to say, except for one thing.
"I'm sorry, Sunburst."
The apology got her no response.
"I never wanted this to happen. I just... I was so hurt and I wasn't thinking straight."
"How... could you?"
The question, asked with a heavy dose of accusation, came from a now glaring Sunburst. Starlight saw his expression and looked away, shame once again taking over as the dominant emotion in her mind.
"How could you make something like this, Starlight?!" Sunburst continued, his voice elevated to almost shouting. "How could you craft a spell like this?!"
"I... I..."
"This is a horrible spell, Starlight! In fact, this could very well be considered dark magic! If the princesses ever catch wind of this, they might just banish you to Tartarus!"
"I know, Sunny!" she finally answered.
"Then why do it?! Why make a spell like this?! Don't you know how many ponies you've hurt with this?!"
"Everypony in this village."
Sunburst paused for a moment before going in on her again. "If we ever get out of this, I'm reporting this to the guard. I don't care that we were friends once before Starlight, but this is something you have to answer up for."
Starlight was going to answer, but something Sunburst had just said had caught her off guard. "What do you mean friends once before?"
Sunburst looked away from the mare as he said what he said next.
"After what I just experienced, and knowing what you've done, I'm not sure I want to be friends with you anymore."