“Well than how do you explain this!” Fluttershy exclaimed, throwing a bucket of water at Starlight. The whole town let out a collective gasp as the floor got a little bit wet.
Starlight moved out of the way of the impromptu bath and glared at Fluttershy with something akin to hatred.
“I knew you couldn’t be trusted!” Starlight yelled, “Everyone’s going back inside and you’re not coming out for a good long time!”
The new ponies’ faces were a mix of horror and despair as they were once again usured inside the cage cottage. Party Favor watched them go. The things they had said when he was stuck in there with them, about their friendship and their differences, really struck a chord in him. More than ever getting his cutie mark back, or at the very least theirs, had now become his top priority.
Slowly, he made his way to the back of the dispersing crowd. Heading straight for his best friends, even if having best friends wasn’t really aloud.
Party Favor frowned at his own thought, the more he thought about it the more he didn’t agree with Starlight’s rules at all.
“Night Glider!” He called out, “Sugar Belle, I need to talk to you!” His two friends ran up to him, embracing him in a hug.
“Party Favor, we were so worried about you.” Night Glider said, releasing the hug.
“You didn’t have to take all the blame for us.” Sugar Belle added, smiling gratefully at him.
Party Favor shook his head, “None of that really matters now. We need to…” He cast a shaky glance around at the other towns ponies still in very good ear shot. Including Starlight Glimmer and Double Diamond. “We need to go somewhere private.”
***
“Wait a minute,” Night said after Party Favor had finished his story, “You’re saying that we need to go break into the cutie vault, get the newcomers cutie marks, risk us all to punishment, and stand up to Starlight Glimmer because you talked to the new ponies and their ideas do seem better?”
“But that’s just it.” Party Favor stressed, “We’re scared of getting caught by Starlight for doing something that isn’t even that bad. Don’t you think that a leader who rules by fear isn’t a good leader at all?”
His two friends looked at each other, any hesitant they had leaving, “Alright, we should do it.” Sugar agreed, “But we can’t get caught. How are we supposed to sneak out to the cave without Starlight seeing us?”
“I thought about that. I’m on probation right? I can distract Starlight while you guys go to the cave.”
Night Glider and Sugar Belle exchanged unsure looks, “I don’t know…” Night said, “What if you get caught?”
Party Favor shrugged, “Then I get in trouble again. The important thing is that we get those cutie marks back.” He sighed and gave them a serious look, “We’ll get them tomorrow, when everyone is asleep. You in?”
The mares nodded, “We’re in.”
***
A sharp knock was heard on Starlight’s door at the late hours of night. Starlight herself was still awake, she had been plotting what to do about the new ponies that had caused so much trouble already. Because of this she was at her door a second after the knock was sounded.
“Party Favor?” She asked once she had seen who it was, “What do you want? Is something wrong?”
“Uh...yeah. Yeah, something is.” Party Favor said, shuffling his hooves.
There was a few moments of silence as Starlight stared at him. “Well? What’s wrong?”
“I think one of the new ponies escaped!”
Starlight blinked, “What? When? Show me.”
Party Favor shook his head, “There’s no time. They went off towards the east. You have to come get them right now!”
***
Two doors creaked open simultaneously as Starlight and Party Favor ran off. Night Glider and Sugar Belle met eyes from across the street, nodded to each other, and gently slipped out of their houses.The two gently snuck through town and in the opposite direction their leader had gone, to the cutie mark cave.
“Do you think he’ll be alright?” Sugar whispered once the two were far enough away from the village.
“I don’t know.” Night admitted, “I just hope what we’re doing is the right thing. I’d hate it if we risked everything for something pointless.”
Sugar was silent for a moment before shaking her head in determination, “No. I know what we’re doing is right. They just seem so much happier with their cutie marks.”
All other talk was cut short as the two quickly reached the cave where the marks were held. They both let out a collective gasp at the sight that laid before them.
“What happened to their cutie marks?” Night cried, rushing towards the vault. The six slots where the new ponies mark’s had been was now completely empty. All other marks were accounted for, just not the ones they needed. “How are we supposed to save them now?”
“I know where they are.” A new voice rang out through the cave. The two mares slowly turned around to find Double Diamond standing at the entrance, an odd look decorating his face as he stared at the two.
“Double Diamond,” Night said quickly, “We were just...I mean...this isn’t.”
“You were trying to give the cutie marks back to our guests.” Diamond interrupted, “But they aren’t here, they’re in Starlight’s house.”
The two mares blinked, “Why...why are you telling us this?” Sugar asked.
Diamond scowled, “Cause she made me come get their cutie marks and give them to her. She’s going to do something with them, not just bring friendship. She can’t be allowed to do whatever she wants.”
“Do you…” Sugar asked slowly, “Do you want your cutie mark back?”
Diamond shrugged and turned to leave, “Not really, I like the town and the ideas, Starlight’s just becoming too weird for me. Come on I’ll show you where the marks are.”
The two followed him cautiously, afraid of the trap they were sure he would spring, but they arrived at Starlight’s house no problem and Double Diamond even produced a key to gain access.
The six cutie marks shined in their glass jars, perched precariously on a desk in the open.
“So, do we just...break them?” Night wondered, gently poking the glass.
Double nodded slowly, moving away from the marks, “I think so. From what I think they should just go to the ponies they belong to.”
Sugar turned to look at him, “Thank you for doing this. I know you enjoy not having your cutie mark, more than the rest of us at least.”
Double looked surprised, “You guys want your cutie marks back?”
Sugar nodded, “We, at least some of us, find that we actually like life with our cutie marks than without them.”
“Then why don’t you just ask for them back?”
Night blinked at him, “We couldn’t just do that, you saw what happened to Party Favor for just thinking about it.”
The stallion looked at his hooves, “I never...I never really thought that ponies were forced to accept. Gosh, this...this changes a lot of things.”
“We’ll figure out what we’re going to do later.” Night commented, grabbing three of the jars, “Right now we have to save some trapped ponies.”
Sugar levitated the rest into the air, “Right, this is what we came here to do. On the count of three,” She raised them slightly higher, “One,”
“STOP RIGHT THERE!” An enraged Starlight bellowed, barging in the door, a shameful Party Favor being dragged behind her. “I knew there were more of you,” She snarled, “Trying to lead me away on a wild goose chase so you can wreck everything. You’ll all regret what you’re doing, you will regret it so much.”
“We’ll regret it more if we don’t!” Sugar shouted back, slamming the levitated jars onto the wood floor, shattering all of them and releasing the cutie marks trapped inside.
Night was about to follow suit before Starlight screamed, “No! Not the princess’s!” and tackled the Pegasus to the ground. The jars soared into the air and landed with a soft clank next to Double Diamond, unharmed.
“Double Diamond,” Starlight attempted sweetness, “Could you give those jars to me? I promise that you won't get in trouble if you do.”
Diamond stood there for a moment, looking lost. His gazed flicked back and forth between the scared Sugar Belle and the enraged Starlight. His features tightened into anger as he looked down at the cutie marks by his hooves.
“No Starlight, what you’re doing is wrong. You can’t force ponies to be friends!” His last words were punctured by the sound of shattering glass.
Author's Note
Bleh. I wasn't really feeling this prompt so this whole story is bleh.
I don't know, maybe you'll like it.