My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 1

The Cutie Map

2 days ago, Neo defeated Tirek and Hellraiser with the help of his friends, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, it was the magic of their friendship that defeated Tirek and Hellraiser. After their victory, the Tree of Harmony gave Twilight a castle to live in following the destruction of her former home: The Golden Oak Library. Princess Celestia said that the castle belonged to both Twilight and Neo, and inside the throne room of the castle were 7 thrones and a small throne, one for each of Twilight's friends, including Neo and Spike, each throne had their cutie marks on it and Neo's throne had his Mortal Kombat tattoo image on it. Twilight realized that the reason she had a castle now was because as princess, her royal duty was to spread friendship across Equestria.

And so 2 days later after moving into the castle, Neo, Twilight and her friends were sitting in their thrones around the star shaped platform, Twilight was wondering why the Tree of Harmony gave her this castle, she thought it was just strange, Neo felt the same way, he thought it was strange that he was going to be living in a castle from now on. Twilight kept asking about why she had the castle and her friends kept telling her it was just her new home and they loved the castle. Twilight wanted Neo's opinion on the castle, but he didn't have one, he said he was thankful that he wasn't homeless after losing the Golden Oak Library along with Twilight, she felt the same way, but before Twilight could say anything else, her cutie mark began glowing, the other ponies' cutie marks were glowing as well, Neo and Spike wondered what was happening.

As their cutie marks glowed, lights from the thrones shined on the star shaped platform in the center of the room, then suddenly, a holographic map appeared on the platform, Neo, Spike and the ponies were shocked by the map, they had never seen anything like it before. Neo thought it was amazing, the map had the entire land of Equestria on it, Fluttershy noticed that their cutie marks were hovering over a certain place on the map. Twilight assumed that the map wanted them to go to that place, and after everything that has happened, it would make sense. Neo said he will go to the place on the map with Twilight, he decided that from now on, wherever Twilight goes, he goes, he wanted to protect her and Twilight thought that was very sweet and loyal of him. The other ponies wanted to go as well, all except for Spike decided to go, Spike decided to stay behind to plan a hoofball weekend with Applejack's brother Big Macintosh.

Since Spike was staying behind, Neo decided to take Chucky with them, Neo packed Chucky in a backpack and then he and his friends went out to catch the Friendship Express. The train dropped them off in an area with nothing around but land, Neo and the ponies began walking and they saw a small village ahead of them, Twilight said that it was the place on the map, they stopped and looked at the village for a second, and from the look of the village, it looked like a very strange place, but the 7 friends were going to visit the village and find out why the map sent them there.

End of chapter 1, chapter 2 coming soon.

My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 2

Starlight Glimmer

Neo and the mane 6 arrived at the village that the cutie map let them to, and from the look of it, it appeared to be a very strange village, they walked closer to the village to get a better look at it, all the ponies in the village were grinning but Pinkie Pie could tell they were not happy smiles. Twilight was very worried about what might happen here, Rainbow Dash thought the village looked very boring, Rarity thought the village could use more fashionable houses, Applejack thought the village seemed to be normal, Fluttershy was the only one who liked the village, Neo was confused about the village, he wasn't sure why the map wanted them to come here. Pinkie Pie thought the ponies' smiles were just not right, Twilight noticed that everypony in the village had the exact same cutie mark, each ponies' cutie mark was an equal sign, Rainbow Dash thought that was very weird. Applejack suggested that they go into the village and talk to the locals about what's going on, Twilight agreed and they entered the village, Pinkie Pie kept complaining about the smiles, she kept saying the smiles just aren't right.

As they walked through the village, they saw that all the houses were lined up side by side and across from each other, from helicopter view of the village, it would be shaped like an equal sign, ponies in the village approached the outsiders with creepy grins and each one welcomed them to their village. Fluttershy loved all the warm welcomes, she thought it was the most pleasant place in Equestria, Rainbow Dash was very annoyed by the village ponies and their creepy smiles and same exact cutie marks. Then a stallion approached Twilight, he had a sky blue coat and a dark blue mane, he said to Twilight, "Welcome! Pardon my forwardness, but are you an Alicorn?" Applejack answered for her and said, "That there's the Princess of Friendship!" The stallion said, "Well, you've certainly come to the right place for friendship."

Then another stallion approached Twilight, he had a white coat and a white mane, he said to Twilight, "What brings you to town?" Twilight said, "We're not entirely sure." The white stallion said, "I see. Well, all are welcome here in our little village. My name is Double Diamond, and this is Party Favor." Party Favor was the sky blue coated stallion with the dark blue mane. Applejack said, "Howdy, Double Diamond. I'm Applejack, and this here's Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle, and this here is Neo." The ponies stared at Neo with creepy smiles, they had never seen a human before and they were very curious about him. Double Diamond approached Neo and said, "You must be the human Neo Anderson who's become famous all over Equestria, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Neo said nervously, "Thank you, it's nice to meet you too." Double Diamond noticed the mane 6's cutie marks and said, "Wow, you all have your own unique cutie marks." Twilight said, "If you don't mind, has there been any sort of... trouble here, lately?" Double Diamond said, "Trouble? Why, I don't think we've ever had trouble in our little village. Perhaps you'd care to speak to our founder Starlight Glimmer." Twilight said she would love to, and so the village ponies walked Neo and the mane 6 to a small house that was in the top middle of the other houses in the entire village.

Double Diamond knocked on the door and said, "Starlight, we have some new visitors." Rainbow Dash was nervous, but then a pony came out of the house, she had a lavender coat and a purple mane with a blue strip, and she also had a equal sign as her cutie mark just like the other ponies in the village. Starlight Glimmer smiled at the newcomers and said, "Welcome! I'm so pleased to have you here." Double Diamond introduced the ponies and Neo to Starlight, "This is Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and the famous human Neo Anderson." Starlight approached Neo and said, "So you're the human that everypony is talking about around Equestria, it's a pleasure to have you here in our village, then Starlight went over to Twilight and said, "Forgive my bluntness, but I'm assuming you are Princess Twilight Sparkle? We don't get many Alicorns around here." Twilight said, "Yes but you can just call me Twilight." Starlight said, "So! How did you hear of our little village?" Neo said, "Well believe it or not, we found this village on a map." Starlight said, "Well, however you found us, we're happy to have you! We're happy to have anypony who wants to experience true friendship for the first time." Neo said, "What?" Confused by what Starlight just said, Starlight said, "Oh, indeed. That's what's so unique about our village, you see. Around here, we don't flaunt our special talents because we don't have any special talents to flaunt." Twilight said, "Is that why you all have the same cutie marks?" Starlight said, "Perhaps it would be easier to understand if I gave you a tour of the village!" Then she shouted across the village, "Heads high, ponies! Marching proud! All together now! Every one of you! No pony left behind!" Starlight and the village ponies sang a song about equality as they took Neo and the mane 6 on a tour of the village.

After the tour, Neo and the ponies were still confused by what was happening. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe that anypony would want to surrender their cutie mark, Pinkie Pie warned them not to be fooled by their smiles. Twilight said to Starlight Glimmer, "I'm sorry, I guess we're just a little confused by all of this." Starlight said, "We have no judgements here in our village. Each of us was confused once as well, blinded by the false promise of our cutie marks." Rainbow Dash said to Neo, "Is this pony for real?" Starlight approached Neo and said, "Where's your cutie mark Neo?" Neo said, "Humans don't have cutie marks." The village ponies were happy to hear that, they thought he would be a perfect addition to the village, But then Double Diamond pointed at Neo's arm and said, "Then what's that?" He was pointing at Neo's Mortal Kombat tattoo, he said, "Isn't that a cutie mark?" Neo said, "No, that's a tattoo, tattoos are not the same as cutie marks. Starlight said, "Would you mind explaining that to us please Neo?" Neo said, "Tattoos are just pieces of artwork that humans can get drawn anywhere on their body, they don't symbolize any special talents or anything like that, we humans have to discover our special talents on our own." Starlight said, "Oh I see, very interesting." Double Diamond and Party Favor were very astonished by Neo's information.

Twilight said, "When we were sent to this village, we assumed it was to help in some way. But, well, it doesn't seem like you need any help." Starlight said, "Have you considered perhaps that you might have been sent here so we could help you? After all, nopony has ever come to our village and wanted to leave. Why should you be any different? But that is entirely your choice. Please enjoy our little corner of Equestria. We're all quite fond of it. No doubt you will be as well. Double Diamond, please help our guests with whatever they might need." Double Diamond said, "Of course." And he took Neo and the mane 6 to one of the houses where they could stay for now, as they walked away, Starlight walked back towards her house with a sinister smile and she said to herself, " Well, this will certainly provide a boost to our little community. When the rest of Equestria sees that a princess gave up her cutie mark to join us, they'll finally understand what we're trying to accomplish."

End of chapter 2, chapter 3 coming soon.

My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 3

The Cutie Mark Vault

Neo and the mane 6 had been accepted into the village by Starlight Glimmer and they were walking around the village seeing what the village had to offer, as they were walking, village ponies welcomed them and kept staring at them with creepy smiles, Neo was getting annoyed by the creepy smiles and so was Rainbow Dash. They passed by the village's fashion center, but the only clothes the store had were rags and cloaks, which repulsed Rarity, Fluttershy was the only one keeping an open mind with the ponies in the village. Twilight decided that if they wanted to get to the bottom of what was happening in the village, they would need the help of the village ponies, Applejack thought they just ran off to the end of Equestria too soon, Pinkie Pie made a joke but then Rarity said this wasn't a good time for jokes, Neo was determined to find out what's going on just as much as Twilight.

Neo and the mane 6 sat down at a table and kept talking to each other in an argumentative way, then a village pony came out to greet them, she saw them arguing and said, "Excuse me, but is this a bad time?" Fluttershy said to Applejack, "We shouldn't be bickering like this in front of our new friends. Really, Applejack, you're almost as bad as Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash said, "Hey, don't drag me into this." The village pony got concerned and said, "Is your friendship ending?" Pinkie Pie said, "Are you crazy?! We'd never let a disagreement get in the way of food!" The village pony said, " O-kay, well, my name is Sugar Belle. What can I bring you? We have: muffins..." Twilight cut her off and said, "Then I guess we'll take 7 muffins." Pinkie Pie told Sugar Belle to bring 12 muffins because she was really hungry, Sugar Belle went inside her bakery, then Twilight said to her friends, "Come on, guys. We've got to stick together. It doesn't matter what happened before, we're here now." Applejack said, "I guess you're right. And the sooner we figure out why, the sooner we can go home." Neo really wanted to go back to Ponyville, that town truly felt like home to him, and Ponyville was nothing compared to this little village, Neo could compare this village to a high crime area in America.

Then Sugar Belle came out to them carrying a plate with a dozen muffins, she gave them their muffins and she said to them, "Forgive me for overhearing, but just a moment ago you were disagreeing, and now it sounds like you're... agreeing." Neo said, "Yeah." Pinkie Pie started eating her muffin right away, but she didn't seem to like it. Sugar Belle said, "Well, you had such differing opinions – and cutie marks." Rarity said, "We have differing opinions all the time, darling." Sugar Belle was so confused, she said, "But you look like you're friends." Twilight said, "We are friends. A simple disagreement wouldn't change that." Neo said, "It's completely normal for friends to disagree." Sugar Belle said, "I'm sorry, I'm just having a hard time understanding. Different talents lead to different opinions, which lead to bitterness and misery. So... why aren't you bitter and...?" Pinkie Pie kept eating the muffins, even thought she felt like she was going to throw up, Sugar Belle could tell that she didn't like them, she said, "It's all right. I know I'm not a very good baker. At least, I know I'm not any better than anypony else in the village. Well, I... hope you enjoy our little village!" Then Sugar Belle quietly whispered to Neo, "Come inside before you go! Meet me downstairs!" Then she went back into her bakery, Rainbow Dash thought that was very weird, Twilight was very suspicious, she said, "Let's all sit here and eat these muffins and act normal. I think we're being watched." Neo said, "Yeah, I don't think anypony wants us to talk to Sugar Belle." The 7 friends agreed that they will all go inside except for Pinkie Pie, they wanted her to stay outside and eat the muffins, Applejack said that Pinkie Pie had a stronger stomach than them and she'd be the best to distract the other village ponies while they talk to Sugar Belle.

And so the friends agreed, Pinkie Pie kept eating the muffins while Neo and the rest of the mane 6 went inside to talk to Sugar Belle. Sugar Belle was inside waiting for them along with Party Favor and a pony named Night Glider. Sugar Belle said to them, "Thank you for coming." She asked them all to come down to the basement of the bakery, once they were down there, Twilight said, "Why did you want us to come down here?" Sugar Belle said, " So nopony could see what's about to happen." Party Favor said, "Are you really the Princess of Friendship?" Night Glider said, "Do you know Princess Celestia?" Sugar Belle said, "I love your cutie mark." Night Glider said, "How can you be friends with different cutie marks? Don't you end up hating each other?" Neo said, "Of course we don't, cutie marks are what make everypony special."

Sugar Belle, Party Favor and Night Glider kept looking at the mane 6's cutie marks and Neo's tattoo, Sugar Belle looked at Rainbow Dash's cutie mark and said, "Oh, look at this one! This one's great too! I'd love to have my special talent back even just for a day! Make something besides those disgusting muffins..." Rainbow Dash said, "So what's stopping you? Go get your cutie marks back." Party Favor said, "Daydreaming is one thing, but you mean actually having it put back on? That seems extreme." Sugar Belle said, " I'm not sure Starlight would like that. She wants us all to be happy in our sameness." Twilight said, "How do you remove somepony's cutie mark anyway?" Night Glider said, " The cutie unmarking is a beautiful experience! Starlight uses the Staff of Sameness to magically take them away and replace them with these." Neo said, " But nopony should keep you from your cutie mark. It represents such an essential part of who you are, I've never had a cutie mark and I had to learn my special talents on my own." Party Favor said, "Isn't that a cutie mark?" Neo said, "No, that's a tattoo, that's just artwork that was applied to my skin a long time ago, it doesn't symbolize any special talent or anything like that." Twilight said, "Where are your cutie marks now?" Party Favor said, "They're in the vault up in the caves. We can visit them any time we like to remind us of the heartache of a life with special talents." Twilight said, "Can we visit the cave?" Sugar Belle told them to go see Starlight Glimmer and she'll take them to the vault.

And so Neo and the mane 6 left the bakery and went back to Starlight's house, Starlight was happy to see them, Twilight asked her if they could see the vault where she keep's everypony's cutie mark, Starlight said, " I'm delighted you're interested in our cutie mark vault. We hope someday every pony in Equestria will make a pilgrimage here to our little village to have theirs removed too, and our message of perfectly equal friendship can finally spread across the land." Starlight told them to follow her to the cave, as they followed her, Twilight said to her friends, "This must be the reason we're here, to help these ponies get their cutie marks back." Fluttershy said, "Oh, are you sure, Twilight? Maybe they miss them a little, but even they didn't seem all that unhappy." Twilight said, "Then why did they want to meet us in secret? And why did they ask us not to tell Starlight who told us about the vault? Something's not right." Starlight led Neo and the ponies into the cave, she stopped and said, "Just through here! Behold! Our cutie mark vault!"

Inside the cave stood a large collection of cutie marks stored inside glass casings and a two-pronged staff standing upright, Twilight said, " I've never seen anything like it!" Starlight picked up the staff and said, "And here is the Staff of Sameness. It was one of the great mage Meadowbrook's nine enchanted items. We are incredibly fortunate to have it here. This is the tool that allows us to free ourselves from our marks! I'm curious – how did the subject of the vault come up?" Pinkie Pie said that some ponies were talking about how they missed their cutie marks, Twilight cut her off to keep those ponies out of trouble, but then Starlight said, " Were they? Well, it seems you inspire all sorts of free thinking, don't you?" Rarity laughed nervously and said, "Well, w-we certainly didn't intend to cause any disruptions to your charming little—" Starlight smiled a sinister smile and said, "Good. Let's just make sure of that, shall we?" Twilight shouted, "It's a trap!"

Starlight's horn glowed along with the staff she was holding, magic energy surrounded the mane 6 and it took the cutie marks off their bodies and Starlight put them into glass casings, the magic replaced their cutie marks with equal signs and the mane 6's bodies were faded, they seemed really weak, Starlight said, "Aw. I don't blame you for what you tried to do here today. You've spent your whole lives thinking those marks are a good thing." Twilight got angry and said, "Give them back." Starlight said, "Well, now you can spend the rest of your lives here with us! And we'll teach you just how much better life can be without your cutie marks!" Starlight walked over to Neo and said, "As for you Neo, since your tattoo doesn't symbolize any special talents, I'll allow you to keep you tattoo. Neo was angry for what Starlight just did, he said in his mind, "You son of a bitch."

Neo wasn't about to let her get away with this, he was going to do everything in his power to give the mane 6 and the village ponies their cutie mark back, but he decided that he has to wait for the right time to do so, will Neo succeed in helping his friends get their cutie marks back and showing everypony in the village true friendship, well keep reading and find out, Neo decided that the village ponies will have to make a choice, will they choose true friendship or equality.

End of chapter 3, chapter 4 coming soon.

My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 4

A Startling Secret

Starlight Glimmer had taken the cutie marks from the mane 6 just to keep them from disrupting her village, and now they were locked in one of the village houses until they learn to accept equality. Neo was locked in there and well, Starlight allowed him to keep his tattoo because it didn't symbolize any special talent, but Neo was determined to get out and get the mane 6's cutie marks back along with the cutie marks that belonged to the village ponies. The mane 6 were very depressed and their bodies were faded, Pinkie Pie felt depressed, Rarity no longer had any sense of fashion, Rainbow Dash no longer had the ability to fly super fast, Applejack has lost her country style mannerism, Fluttershy tried to talk to a bird and ask it to go get help but the bird didn't understand her, Fluttershy could no longer talk to animals.

Outside in the village, Starlight Glimmer's voice was heard on a speaker telling the entire village to accept equality and encouraging everypony to be like everyone else. Twilight was getting very annoyed by her voice and so was Neo, Twilight was very curious Starlight Glimmer's equality staff, she said to herself, "Something odd about that staff. I haven't studied Eastern unicorns as much as I should have, but I'm pretty sure Meadowbrook only had eight magical items, not nine. And I don't remember any of them being a staff." Outside the house, Starlight Glimmer's voice came on the speaker saying, "Choose equality as your special talent. Difference is frustration. To excel is to fail. Be your best by never being your best. Conformity will set you free. Accept your limitations, and happiness will follow. You're no better than your friends." Then Twilight had an idea, she told her friends that they will make the villagers think they've accepted their philosophy, she decided that only Neo will go out and make the villagers think that he's accepted their philosophy on equality and that way, he can learn more about what Starlight Glimmer is really up to and try to get their cutie marks back as well.

Suddenly, Starlight Glimmer opened the door and said, "I trust you had a pleasant night? This way, please. There are some friends who'd like to see you. Gather round, friends, gather round! We've come to ask if any of you are ready to join us! There are so many friends to be made once you realize you don't need your cutie marks or the talents that come with them." Neo and the mane 6 came out of the house, village ponies were hoping that they had accepted their ways of equality, Double Diamond said to them, "We have a welcome ceremony for new friends! The whole village joins together to build you your own cottage—" Rainbow Dash cut him off and said, "Not interested! You may have them now, but we're going to get our cutie marks back!" Applejack said, "Y'all don't understand, do ya? You can't force nopony to be friends! It don't work like that!" One village pony said, "Please join." Another one said, "We love new friends." Starlight Glimmer said, " It's all right, everypony. This is a perfectly normal part of the equalization process for those who haven't... quite seen the light yet. We'll try again tomorrow once you've had a bit more time to consider our philosophy!" Then Neo said, "I will join you." The village ponies were happy to hear that, they talked among each other, Twilight tried to act like she was surprised, she said, "Oh Neo, how could you?" She just pretended to be surprised about Neo accepting equality, Starlight walked up to Neo and said, "And you have accepted our ways of equality?" Neo said, "Yes, equality is the way to go, we are all equal and nopony should be treated any differently." Talking like a congressman, Starlight said, "We have a new friend everypony."

The village ponies felt so happy, then Starlight looked at the mane 6 and said, "Now, there's one more order of business. It seems some in our midst might be... dissatisfied with the village life!" The village ponies gasped and Starlight said, "Unfortunately, it's true my friends." Starlight looked at Neo and said, "Will you kindly tell us the names of those friends who so desperately miss their cutie marks that they would sneak around in the shadows talking to strangers about it? Just so we can be sure your intentions are indeed pure." Neo felt a little nervous, he certainly didn't want to get anypony in trouble, Neo said, "I'm not familiar with everypony in the village yet, I don't know their names or faces yet." Starlight said, "Nonsense human! Obviously these ponies must have asked you directly. Kindly point them out!" But before Neo could say anything, Party Favor said, "It was me! It was only me! But I only wanted it back for a little while!" Starlight walked over to Party Favor and said, "And you're quite certain it was only you?" Party Favor said, "I just wanted to remember what it was like." Starlight said, "And no thought to the pain you'd cause your friends. Such selfishness." Starlight had 2 village ponies take the mane 6 and Party Favor into the house, as Twilight went in, she looked at Neo, Neo nodded at her and she winked at him, she knew that Neo was going to do whatever he could to help her and her friends get their cutie marks back.

The village ponies locked the mane 6 and Party Favor into the house, Party Favor said, "What was I thinking?! I can't believe I even considered asking for my cutie mark back." Rainbow Dash said, "Don't worry, Neo will have us out of here in no time, believe me, he's an amazing human." Party Favor said, "Didn't you see what just happened out there?! Your friend has accepted our way! You will all accept our way! It's only a matter of time!" Rainbow Dash laughed and said, "This guy's a barrel of laughs." Pinkie Pie said, "Laughs don't come in barrels silly. They come from inside you as your body's response to delight." Applejack said, "So what are we gonna do while Neo's out there lookin' for our... cutie marks?" Applejack whispered that, afraid that somepony might overhear, Twilight said, "We have to stay as positive as we can. If Party Favor sees how much we really do like each other, even though we're all different, maybe we can use him to spread our message to the rest of the village." Starlight's voice came on a loudspeaker once again, then Rarity said, "Let's hope they don't convert any of us first."

Neo walked around the village, village ponies welcomed him and kept giving him creepy smiles, some village ponies began building a cottage for Neo to live in, Neo appreciated the kindness from the village ponies, but he knew that they all had been brainwashed by Starlight Glimmer. Starlight Glimmer approached Neo and said, "Come with me. All new friends stay with me until their cottage is completed. Let's get you settled, and then you can enjoy all that our little village has to offer." Neo followed Starlight Glimmer to her cottage, she politely welcomed Neo into her cottage and allowed him to stay with her until his cottage was finished, Neo made a request to Starlight if he could stay with his friends just for the night and see if he can get them to accept equality, thinking it was a good idea, she approved his request.

When it got dark, Neo was in the house with the mane 6 and Party Favor, Twilight wondered why Neo came back to them so soon. Neo had a plan, he got his backpack, took Chucky out of his backpack, he told Chucky what was going on and that he wanted Chucky to sneak out and retrieve the mane 6's cutie marks, since Chucky was a doll, nopony would suspect him, so Chucky agreed to do it. Neo opened a small window, Chucky was small enough to fit out the window, Neo told Chucky that the cutie marks are in glass casings in a cave, Chucky remembered what the mane 6's cutie marks looked like and he would have no problem retrieving them, so Chucky quickly ran off to get them. Since it was dark, there were no village ponies outside, so Chucky was able to get around without being seen, just when Chucky was about to get to the cave where the cutie marks were kept, he saw Double Diamond taking the glass casings containing the mane 6's cutie marks to Starlight's cottage, Chucky recognized the cutie marks right away and he followed Double Diamond.

When Double Diamond was in the cottage, Chucky ran over to the cottage and he looked through an open window and listened in, Starlight was in the cottage, she said to Double Diamond, "Excellent work, Double Diamond." Double Diamond was a little confused about why Starlight wanted these, he said, "Of course, but I don't understand why you wanted me to bring them here. Neo is one of us now. Surely he can be trusted." Starlight said, "This one belongs to a princess. It could be very important to our cause." Double Diamond said, "But if Twilight Sparkle becomes our friend, then why do we care about this old cutie mark?" Starlight said, " I just want to keep them close until everything is... settled. You may go, Double Diamond." Double Diamond went out the door, and he didn't even notice Chucky by the window, Chucky, ran and hid for a second, not wanting to be seen by Double Diamond, as he hid, he said to himself, "Shit, how am I gonna get those fucking things now." When Double Diamond was out of sight, Chucky went back to the open window, he looked inside and saw Starlight Glimmer still in the cottage, Starlight walked across the room and she suddenly tripped over a bucket of water, after she tripped, she got splashed with water and said, "Ugh! Starlight, you clumsy foal!"

Then Chucky noticed something, some water ran down Starlight's rear and washed off her equal sign and revealed a cutie mark, the cutie mark was a small purple diamond with 2 aqua colored squiggly lines above it, when Chucky saw that, he said to himself, "Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me." Starlight thought she heard something, Chucky quickly sneaked away from the window and hid, Starlight looked outside and didn't see anypony, then she closed her window. Chucky went back to the window and he saw Starlight trying to conceal her cutie mark and she drew another equal sign where it was, after seeing this, Chucky said, "That son of a bitch, she's got her own cutie mark, and she ain't no fucking angel, wait until Neo hears about this. Then Chucky quickly went back to the cottage where Neo, the mane 6 and Party Favor were locked in.

Inside the cottage, the mane 6 and Party Favor were asleep, Neo was awake and he was smoking a cigarette. Chucky quietly knocked on the window, Neo saw him, he opened the window and let Chucky into the cottage, Neo said, "Chucky, what are you doing back so soon, where are the damn cutie marks." Chucky said, "The bitch has them, so I couldn't get them, but I found out something else, you're not gonna believe it." Neo said, "What is it?" Chucky said, "That bitch's equal sign cutie mark was fake, she has her own cutie mark." Neo couldn't believe what he heard, he said, "What?" Chucky said, "Yeah, I saw it, she tripped over a bucket of water, she got splashed and the water washed off her equal sign and she had her own cutie mark."

Neo groaned and said, "That bitch, she's been brainwashing everypony in this town and lying to them about equality, but why does she have my friend's cutie marks?" Chucky said, "She's taken a huge interest in Twilight's cutie mark since she is a princess, and she wants to hold onto it." Neo said, "Well we'll figure something out, at least now we know, that Starlight is a liar and a control freak, she's brainwashed all the ponies here into thinking that everypony should be equal when she is not even equal." Chucky said, "So what do we do now?" Neo had a plan, he said, "Listen, tomorrow, we're gonna show everypony in the village just what a fraud Starlight is, but don't tell my friends what's happening right now, I don't want them getting worried or trying to expose her too soon, we'll have to wait for the right time tomorrow to expose Starlight, and I'm gonna need you to help me." Chucky said, "You got it partner." Neo said, "Tomorrow we're gonna show these ponies that Starlight is a liar and they'll see that there is only true friendship when everypony is special, and nopony, and I mean nopony fucks with my friends and gets away with it."

And so Neo began putting his plan together on how he and Chucky will expose Starlight Glimmer, Starlight Glimmer's days of brainwashing ponies and spreading lies about equality was about to end.

End of chapter 4, chapter 5 coming soon.

My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 5

Starlight Exposed

The next morning, Starlight Glimmer wanted to see if the mane 6 were ready to join them once again in their life of equality, Starlight unlocked the door and let them out, once they were outside, Starlight smiled at them and said, "I've got a good feeling about today! So, do any of you have anything you'd like to say?" The village ponies were hoping that they were ready to join them, but the mane 6 just gave them angry or depressed looks, meaning they were not ready, then Starlight said, "Aw, pity. Well, let's try this again tomorrow, shall we? No new friends today, I'm afraid!" Neo had been locked in there with them even though he had agreed to live up to Starlight's philosophy, but that was only to try and get the cutie marks back, Neo had failed to do so, but in the process, he had sent Chucky out the night before to get them, but instead, Chucky has discovered and startling secret about Starlight Glimmer, Neo and Chucky had talked about how they were going to expose Starlight to the village ponies and prove to them that she is a fraud, however the mane 6 had no knowledge of their plans, Neo thought it would be easier to keep it between himself and Chucky. Neo was holding Chucky in his hands and Chucky was acting like a regular doll, they were waiting for the right time to expose Starlight.

Neo said that he would like to lock the mane 6 back in the house, Starlight was happy to hear that, she said, "Marvelous, Neo! That's the spirit! Party Favor, will you join us, please?" Party Favor had been locked in the house with the mane 6 the night before because he took the blame for how the mane 6 and Neo found out about the cutie mark vault. Party Favor came over to the village ponies and said, "I'm sorry, Starlight! I'm sorry, everypony! I've seen the error of my ways! I never want to look at my cutie mark again!" Starlight was happy to hear that, she said, "It seems there's cause for celebration after all!" The village ponies cheered, Party Favor said, "They tried to break me! They wouldn't stop talking about how different they are, and that somehow makes their friendship stronger!" Starlight signed and said, "Such backwards thinking." Party Favor said, "But I didn't listen! I knew what they were up to, and I didn't listen!" Starlight said, "Well done, Party Favor! We welcome you back with open hooves!"

Then Neo said to Starlight, "Hey Starlight, one of my friends would like to join us." Twilight stepped forward, Starlight was very happy about this, she thought she had finally gotten a princess to join them, Starlight said, "Is this true?" As they were talking, Chucky slowly took out a small water gun and was going to use it as soon as he was close enough to Starlight, Twilight said, " I-I think so. But I just want to be sure. If I agree to leave my cutie mark in the vault, I'll really be happier?" Starlight said, "Just look around! Equality has given us more happiness than you've ever known!" Neo moved a little closer to Starlight, Twilight said, "And you wouldn't let me just live here in the village with my old cutie mark?" Starlight said, "Out of the question. A pony with a different cutie mark in our midst would destroy our entire philosophy. We are all equal here!" Neo said to Starlight, "Starlight." Starlight turned to Neo and said, "Yes Neo." Neo said, I just realized something... you're a terrible lair." Starlight said, "Excuse me?" Surprised by what Neo just said, Neo said, "Do you really believe that forcing everypony to be equal is the only way of true friendship?" Starlight said, "Of course I do." Neo said, "What about yourself, are you equal like everyone else here in the village." Starlight didn't like where this was going, she said, "Of course I am, I started this village, I made everypony equal, therefore, I am equal as well." Neo stood right next to her rear and said, "Then how do you explain this?" Chucky pointed his water gun at Starlight's rear, he squirted her rear and said, "Bang, you're dead."

Starlight freaked out for a second and so did the village ponies, even the mane 6 was surprised at what just happened, Starlight said, "I knew you couldn't be trusted! No! Get away!" Neo put Chucky on the ground and Chucky stood up, at first the village ponies stared at Chucky, Chucky used a rag to wipe Starlight's rear and he wiped off her equal sign and revealed her real cutie mark and Chucky said, "How's this for equality." The village ponies looked at Starlight and gasped, the mane 6 gasped as well, Starlight said, "Wha... What are you looking at?! They're the problem, not me!" Party Favor said, "How could you?" Double Diamond said, "You said cutie marks were evil! You said special talents led to pain and heartache!" Starlight said, "They do! Don't you see?! Look at them!" Suger Belle stepped forward and said, "Then why? Why did you take ours and not give up your own?" Starlight said, "I... I had to, you fools! How could I collect your cutie marks without my magic?!" Night Glider said, "But the staff has all the magic we need!" Starlight said, "The staff is a piece of wood I found in the desert! It's my magic that makes all this possible! You'd all still be living your miserable lives thinking you're better than everypony else if it weren't for my magical abilities! I brought you friendship! I brought you equality! I created harmony!" Double Diamond got angry and said, "You lied to us!" Starlight said, "So what? E-Everything else I said is true! The only way to be happy is if we're all equal!" Party Favor said, "Except for you." Twilight stepped in and said, "Everypony has unique talents and gifts, and when we share them with each other, that's how rea—" Starlight cut her off and said, "QUIET!" Sugar Belle said, "You can't have a cutie mark, Starlight! Either we're all equal, or none of us are!"

Starlight knew it was over, the village ponies has now seen the truth, Starlight began running back to her cottage, Neo said to the villagers, "Who wants their cutie marks back?" The village ponies all cheered when he said that, Rainbow Dash said, "Then let's go get our cutie marks back." Neo said to his friends, "One thing though, the cutie mark vault only has the villager's cutie marks, Starlight has all of yours." The village ponies ran towards the cave to retrieve their cutie marks while Neo and the mane 6 went to Starlight's house to get theirs, in the cave, Double Diamond broke all the glass casings, the cutie marks were released and they all went back to their respective owners. At Starlight's house, Starlight took out the glass casings containing the mane 6's cutie marks from under her bed and said, "They think they can come to my village and disrupt my life? Let's see how they like spending the rest of their lives without their precious cutie marks!"

After the village ponies got their cutie marks back, they came to Starlight's house to help the mane 6 and Neo break into Starlight's house, after a few attempts to break the door down, they got inside, Twilight said, "Where are the cutie marks?" Chucky said, "They were right there, that's where I saw them." He was pointing to a dresser where he had seen the glass casings with the cutie marks in them, Neo said, "Starlight must have taken them." Party Favor and Double Diamond saw Starlight in the distance making a run for the mountains, Party Favor said, "She's headed for the pass! If she makes it into those mountains, we'll never find her!" Neo said, "I'll get her." Neo went outside and began flying after Starlight, the village ponies saw him fly and they were so surprised by what he could do, the mane 6, Party Favor, Double Diamond, Night Glider, Sugar Belle and Chucky began pursing Starlight as well.

Meanwhile, Starlight was galloping as fast as she could, she had a small carriage attached to her with the jars containing the mane 6's cutie marks, Neo was flying after her, he was holding a small BB gun and he began shooting BB's at her, Starlight looked up and saw Neo flying after her, she couldn't believe he could fly, she tried shooting magic beams at him, he just dodged him and kept shooting her with BB's, and so the chase was on. Starlight also saw Double Diamond, Party Favor, Night Glider and Sugar Belle chasing her as well. Starlight looked back and said, "Are you all so willing to give up everything because of these strangers?!" Sugar Belle said, "We gave up everything for you, because we thought you were our friend!"

As the mane 6 joined in on the pursuit, Rainbow Dash said, "I can't believe we have to count on these other ponies to save our cutie marks!" Twilight said, "If we hadn't come here to help them, they'd still be living under her rules! Now it's their turn to help us!" Fluttershy said, "And I know they can do it." Neo kept flying through the air after Starlight, still shooting at her with BB's, Sugar Belle used her magic to pick up snow and make it into a pie, she said, "My newest recipe – snow pie!" She threw the snow pie at Starlight, causing her to fall and the carriage with the jars containing the cutie marks got destroyed, but before the jars could break, Starlight used her magic to float the jars behind her. Starlight ran across a bridge and when she got across, she blasted a beam of magic and blew up the bridge to keep them from crossing, she continued running but Neo was still flying after her. To get across the bridge, Party Favor made a bridge out of balloons that was strong enough to get them across.

When they got across, Double Diamond came across a pair of skis that once belonged to him, he remembered that this was the spot where he first met Starlight, Night Glider said there was no time for memories, but then Double Diamond had an idea. Double Diamond quickly put his skis on and began sliding through the snow, Neo flew through the air and was catching up to Starlight. Double Diamond slid down on the snow and came down to where Starlight was right before she was about to reach the cave where she could escape. Double Diamond brought down an avalanche of snow right down on Starlight as he came down, Starlight was pinned down by a lump of snow, Neo came down and he shot BB's at the jars, breaking them open. The cutie marks floated and flew towards the mane 6, the cutie marks were restored to the mane 6, Twilight had her wings back, their bodies were fully colored and they felt like their old selves again. Applejack was so happy, she reared, kicked her hooves around and said, "Yee-haw! Finally, I can buck like a five-bit snake herder in an Appleloosa ranch house again!" Fluttershy said, "And you got your countryisms back, too!"

Then Starlight came out of the snow and she was very angry, Double Diamond, Party Favor, Night Glider and Sugar Belle were afraid of what she was going to do to them, Starlight shot a beam at them, but Neo came down and blocked the beam from hitting them with his bare hand. Twilight came down to Neo's aid and helped him block Starlight's beam, Neo and Twilight blocked her beam and shot it back at her, Starlight gasped and moved out of the way, barely getting hit by her own beam. Starlight was so confused, she said, "Wh– I studied that spell for years! How can you—" Twilight cut her off and said, "I studied magic for years too! But what I didn't know then was that studying could only take me so far. Each of my friends has taught me something different about myself! It was their unique gifts and passions and personalities that helped bring out the magic inside of me! I never would have learned that I represent the element of magic without these five ponies and my friend Neo! And I certainly wouldn't be here to stop you now!" Starlight said, "Spare me your sentimental nonsense! I gave these ponies real friendships they never could've had otherwise!" Double Diamond said, "How do you know that?! You never even gave us a chance!" Neo said, "Yeah, you never cared about making the lives of these ponies better, you only cared about making your life better you selfish bitch."

Neo took out a stun gun and was about to stun Starlight, Starlight didn't say a word, she just smiled a sinister smile, she blinded Neo and the ponies with a purple beam, when the beam was gone, Starlight had disappeared and had escaped through the cave. Rainbow Dash came down and said, "She's getting away." Neo said, "Goddammit, and I didn't get a chance to stun her." Double Diamond said, "We'll never find her in there." Twilight said, "We just have to hope that when she's had a chance to think it over, she realizes that you all have taught her something." Neo said, "I seriously doubt that, I think she might try to get revenge on us." Twilight said, "Let's try not to think like that Neo, let's just try to be optimistic and hope that Starlight has learned from her mistakes." Party Favor said, " It's you who have taught us something. We all came to this village because we were searching for something missing from our lives. We thought Starlight had given it to us, but now... now it seems it was in front of us all along. It's us!" Twilight said, "Does that mean you'll stay in the village?" Night Glider said, "It's our home. I'm not going anywhere." Double Diamond said, "This is a chance for all of us to get to know each other again for the very first time!" Sugar Belle said, "And I finally have a chance to bake something besides terrible muffins!" Everypony laughed except Neo, he was still disappointed that Starlight has escaped, he was afraid that Starlight might come back for revenge, but if that ever happened, he would be ready for her.

Then Neo and the ponies went back to the village and the village ponies celebrated a new life with their cutie marks, village ponies were smiling cheerfully, which made Pinkie Pie very happy, she said, "Now those are real smiles." Suddenly, the mane 6's cutie marks started pulsing, the mane 6 wondered what that meant, Applejack said, "I'll never get used to that." Rarity said, "I think it's simply divine." Fluttershy said, " Does that mean that the map is calling us somewhere else?" Twilight said, "I have a feeling it means our work here is done." Applejack said, " Looks like you were right, Twilight. The map did have a reason for sendin' us here. We brought real friendship to these here ponies. Guess that's why you're the Princess of Friendship." Twilight said, "But the map didn't send me. It sent us. You're a part of me, all of you, including Neo. And there's no doubt you're a part of my mission to spread friendship too."

The mane 6 laughed while Neo put Chucky back in his backpack, Pinkie Pie said, "This feels like an ending! It doesn't have to be an ending yet, right? 'Cause that Sugar Belle can bake!" Neo said, "Yeah, she makes really good sugar cookies." Twilight said, "Maybe we can stay a little while longer, Neo, maybe you can put on a concert for them, they've never heard you sing." Neo said, "Maybe we should stay for a while, there's always time to make new friends and spend time with new friends." Twilight was happy to hear him say that, she said, "Come on!"

The mane 6 galloped happily to the village with Neo walking behind them, and so Neo and the mane 6 stayed in the village a little while longer to celebrate with the village ponies before going back to Ponyville, and Neo planned to put on an awesome concert just for them, I hope they like Heavy Metal.

End of chapter 5, chapter 6 coming soon.

My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 6

Foalsitting

3 days after leaving the village on the other side of Equestria where the cutie map has sent Neo and the mane 6, Neo and the mane 6 were finally back in Ponyville, Neo was at Rarity's Boutique, foalsitting Sweetie Belle, Rarity was at a fashion show in town and was showing her dresses and jewelry at the show and she had asked Neo to foalsit Sweetie Belle, Neo didn't mind at all and Rarity knew how much Sweetie Belle loved Neo.

At Rarity's house, Neo and Sweetie Belle were playing a game, they were having fun and Sweetie Belle was having so much fun just being with Neo. Sweetie Belle wasn't even keeping track of the time, she was enjoying her time with Neo, after playing their game, Neo just petted and snuggled with Sweetie Belle. He petted her mane, kissed her head, rubbed her tummy and gave her lots of hugs, and Sweetie Belle appreciated every second of the attention.

A few minutes later, Rarity came in, she said, "Neo, I'm back." She came into the room and saw Neo hugging Sweetie Belle, Rarity smiled and said, "Awww, Neo, you and Sweetie Belle are getting along so well, it makes me so happy to know how much you love my dear little sister, thank you so much for foalsitting tonight, I can't thank you enough." Neo said, "No problem Rarity, we had fun together, I love Sweetie Belle so much." Sweetie Belle rubbed against him and said, "I love you too Neo." And she jumped into his arms and gave him a big hug. Neo hugged her and said, "I love you too Sweetie Belle." Rarity awed at the sweet moment, she thought it was very sweet and it made her very happy. Then Rarity giggled and said, "Okay Sweetie Belle, it's time for bed." Sweetie Belle wished she could stay up longer and be with Neo, but she had to do what Rarity said, then Rarity turned to Neo and said, "Thank you so much for foalsitting Sweetie Belle Neo, you can go home now, I'll put her to bed."

Rarity took Sweetie Belle into her room and tucked her in bed and Neo went outside, Neo just sat outside Rarity's house, he lit a cigarette and smoked as he sat outside. Neo didn't really want to go back to Twilight's castle, he had been avoiding it since they got back from the village. Rarity came back into her living room and she saw Neo sitting outside, she came outside and said, "Neo dear, what are you doing out here, I thought you went home, is something wrong?" Neo said, "Rarity, I don't feel very well right now, would you mind if I stay here tonight?" Rarity was concerned, she said, "Are you sick?" Neo said, "No, I'm just really tired." Rarity said, "Oh, well come back inside, you can stay here tonight, I don't mind at all." And she smiled sweetly.

Neo thanked her and they went back inside. Rarity said Neo could sleep in her guest bedroom, Neo got into the bed and Rarity tucked him in and gave him a goodnight kiss on the cheek, which made Neo blush. Then Neo gave Rarity a hug, she hugged him back and told him goodnight. Then Rarity went to bed as well and Neo fell fast asleep, dreaming about what it's like to live in a place like Twilight's castle.

End of chapter 6, chapter 7 coming soon.

My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 7

Doesn't Feel Like Home

For the next 2 days, Neo constantly avoided the castle by either working overtime in performances and practices, overdoing his performances or just going out smoking somewhere in Ponyville, and Twilight was with him all the time. The morning after, Twilight's friends were having pancakes at her castle, the ponies were already at the table eating, Neo came down a few minutes later to join them, he looked very, very tired and he had a headache. When Neo sat down at the table, Pinkie Pie happily gave him a plate of pancakes, but Neo dosed off at the table, Twilight was also dosed off as well.

The ponies just kept eating their pancakes, Applejack said the pancakes were delicious, Pinkie Pie said, "Thanks! Twilight and Neo spent all night helping me pick the flavor! I kept thinking we'd found the right one, but they insisted I make even more to try. And more. And more and more and more and more! It was like they never wanted to—" Fluttershy quietly said, "Leave?" Rainbow Dash said, "Up all night, huh? Is that why they're so, uh... out of it?" Twilight snored and Neo just quietly slept a little bit, Fluttershy said, "Um, I don't mean to sound unappreciative, but has anypony else noticed that Neo has been um... overdoing it lately?" Applejack said, "Now that you mention it, Neo has been constantly going around town, performing for the Ponyville ponies a lot lately, he even performed for 3 hours straight." Rarity said, "He spent an entire afternoon practicing for future concerts and performances over by my boutique. An entire afternoon, and Twilight was there helping him." Rainbow Dash said, "You think that's weird, Neo and I flew together and raced each other like 100 times the other day, Twilight joined in a few times, Neo won some and I won some, but even when he lost, he just kept going, I know hanging out with me is awesome, but it was like he'd rather keep racing and lose rather than..." Fluttershy said, "Leave?" Rainbow Dash said, "Yeah, who does that?" Applejack looked at Neo asleep at the table, she said, "Somepony who's avoidin' somethin', that's who. Soon as he wakes up, we're gonna find out what."

Neo slept for a few more minutes, Twilight woke up with a yawn, the ponies wanted to ask her as well but they decided to wait for Neo to wake up. Neo slowly opened his eyes, he rubbed his eyes and his head, the ponies looked at him with concerned faces, Neo looked at them and said, "Good morning girls." In a tired voice, Fluttershy said, "Um.. Neo, are you feeling alright?" Neo said, "I have a headache." Fluttershy said, "Oh dear, I hope you'll feel better later, but until then, we'll be here to make you feel better." Applejack gave Neo a concerned look and said, "Uh, Neo. Is there somethin' you wanna tell us?" Neo said, "What?" Fluttershy said, "Don't worry Neo, you can tell us, we're very concerned about you." Rarity said, "We've noticed that you've been overdoing it lately, and we know how much you love performing for everypony and we just adore having you around and seeing you perform just for us... but... we worry you might be... ahem... avoiding something else?" Neo said, "Is it really that obvious, well... you see girls... um... the thing is..." Fluttershy said, "Now now Neo, you can tell us, don't be nervous, remember, we're your friends, you can tell us anything, so go ahead and tell us." Neo took a breath and said, "I know this sounds weird... but I... I've been avoiding... this place."

The ponies except Twilight gasped at what he said, Twilight said, "He's right, in fact, I've been avoiding this place too, that's why I've been helping Neo out so much." Rarity said, "But why in Equestria would you want to avoid such a gorgeous castle?" Pinkie Pie said, "Yeah, this place has everything! Big tall ceilings that make you feel tiny! Shiny new floors that are cold to the touch! Brrr! And it even has loooong empty hallways!" Pinkie Pie's voice echoed throughout the hall. Rarity said, "Okay Pinkie Pie, we get it." Applejack looked at Neo and said, "Hey Neo, why have you been avoidin' this castle?" The ponies focused their full attention on Neo, Neo said, "I love this castle, it's an amazing place, it's just that it feels weird to be living in a castle, I'm just an ordinary everyday boy and I'm living in a castle, I'm not a prince or any royal person, I'm just a typical boy, a Heavy Metal singer, and I'm living in this huge castle, I guess what I'm saying is... this castle just doesn't feel like home."

Now the ponies understood why Neo had been avoiding the castle, Fluttershy said, "We understand Neo, thank you for telling us." Twilight said, "To be honest, I feel the same way, this castle is amazing, but like Neo said, it doesn't feel like home." Rarity said, "Well if that's all, Why not simply decorate the castle darling, make this space your own?" Twilight said, "It's just so daunting! Look how big it is! I-I don't even know where to start!" Neo said, "Plus, I wouldn't know how to make this castle feel like home for me." Rarity said, "You can start by letting us do it for you. We will make this the castle of your dreams while you and Neo go to the Ponyville spa for some much needed rest and relaxation. I'm saying this with love darling, but... have you two looked in a mirror lately? I've never seen the both of you look this... mmmm..." Fluttershy said, "Frazzled?" Rarity smiled and said, "Yes! That is absolutely the word I was going to use." Neo said, "You're probably right Rarity, my working overtime for my performances has been giving me cramps, headaches and a sore back, I could really use a massage." Twilight stretched and said, "Ooh, I guess I do need a little help. And so does my castle. And I just know you'll do a great job, because nopony knows me better than you." Applejack smiled and said, "Don't you two worry, we'll make this place feel cozier than hot cider on a rainy day."

Then Spike came into the room, he yawned and said, "Good morning everypony, boy, I slept like a baby under that cavernous ceiling." Rarity said, "Spike dear, I'm so glad you're here." Spike said, "You are, really?" Rarity said, "Oh yes, would you please take Neo and Twilight to the spa?" Spike said, "Um... okay, if I can get my claws done while we're there." Twilight said, "Of course you can, come on Neo, let's go to the spa." Neo, Twilight and Spike walked out of the castle, when they were gone, Applejack said, "Come on, y'all! We've got work to do!" And the mane 6 left the castle and went to look for things they could use to decorate the castle.

End of chapter 7, chapter 8 coming soon.

My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 8

Redecorating the Castle

Spike was taking Neo and Twilight to the Ponyville Spa center while their friends were gathering things they could use to decorate the castle. They sang a cheerful song about how they were going to make the castle seem like the best castle ever as they were gathering their decorating materials. After gathering the materials and returning to the castle, they got to work right away. Applejack decorated the throne room with crates of apples, hay bales, and flower gardens, Fluttershy introduced a variety of animals to keep Twilight company, Pinkie Pie put up balloons and hid several party cannons in the castle interior, Rainbow Dash put up Wonderbolts memorabilia and Daring Do posters, and Rarity put up curtains and banners embedded with gemstones.

After they finished putting everything up, the entire throne room was crowded with decorations, Applejack laughed nervously and said, "Wow, girls! We did a... great job... together..." Rainbow Dash said, "Yeah, we sure did... something." Rarity said, "And we did it all together." Rainbow Dash looked at all the animals that Fluttershy brought, she said in an unconvincing voice, "Fluttershy, I love that you brought so many animals." Fluttershy said, "Are these your trophies?" Rainbow Dash said, " I prefer to think of them as everypony's trophies but with my name permanently etched onto them." Rarity laughed unconvincingly and said, "My my, Applejack, bringing the outdoors inside, it's... earthy... What a lovely touch! She sniffed the heaves and said, "Are these quilts vintage?" Applejack said, "Nope, just old! Unlike your sparkly window doohickeys which are... why, they're just swell!" She laughed nervously, Pinkie Pie said, " No one said anything about my hidden confetti cannons! Oh, right! They're hidden!" She giggled.

Then Spike came into the castle, as he walked into the throne room and saw all the decorations, Spike said, "Oh my Celestia, what happened in here?" Rarity greeted Spike and said, " Oh, Spike! Are you, Neo and Twilight done already?" Spike said, "Don't worry, I ordered Twilight the super-deluxe mane blow-out and Neo relaxing in the steam room, they'll be a while. Man, this place looks terrible!" The ponies sighed with relief, Fluttershy said, "Thank goodness somepony said something." Rainbow Dash said, "It's pretty bad, isn't it?" Applejack said, "This place looks like a mishmash of knickknacks." Rarity said, "Hmm, I suppose it is a little cluttered." Pinkie Pie said, "What are you guys talking about? I think it looks super fun!"

Suddenly, her party cannons went off, the animals that Fluttershy had brought got scared by the noise and began running around the throne room in panic. Pinkie Pie rode on one of the animals and shouted, "Whee!" Fluttershy tried to calm down the animals and said, "Oh! Oh, no! Please don't do that! If you all just take a deep breath and calm down—" An animal trampled on the curtains that Rarity put up, Rarity said, "No! That bunting is embroidered by hoof! Don't you move one more paw!" Then the animal tore down the curtains, Rarity shouted, "Everypony, stop!"

The ponies stopped and so did the animals, then the ponies looked around at the messy throne room, Pinkie Pie said, "Okay, now it's a mess." Her party cannon went off again, but didn't scare the animals, Rainbow Dash said, "What do we do now?" Spike said, "I dunno. But Twilight's blow-out won't take that long and Neo's doesn't have much time left to stay in the steam room. If they were avoiding the castle before, they'll never set hoof in here now!" Rainbow Dash said, "Come on, guys, we've gotta do something! Neo and Twilight are counting on us!" Rarity said to Spike, "Spike, you've got to get back to that spa and stall them! Whatever you do, don't let them come home!" Spike said, "Like, forever? But we live here." Rarity said, "Uh, yes, well, uh, maybe you could manage it 'til... sunset-ish?" She batted her eyelashes, Spike blushed and said, "Anything for you Rarity." Applejack said, " Okay, we all agree the castle is too cluttered, right? So why doesn't everypony take one of their own decorations out and we'll see how it looks?"

All the ponies agreed and began taking down one of their decorations and began thinking about what else they can do to redecorate while Spike went back to the Ponyville Spa center to try to keep Neo and Twilight from coming home for a while.

End of chapter 8, chapter 9 coming soon.

My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 9

Remains of the Library

Spike came back to the Ponyville Spa Center to try to keep Neo and Twilight from coming home, Twilight was getting her mane done, she saw Spike and said, "Spike, you're back? How do I look?" Spike said, "You look great." Twilight said, "And more importantly, how does the castle look?" Spike said, "It's looking pretty good." Twilight said, "I can't wait to go home and see it!" Spike said, "Great! I mean, no! I mean, uh, I'm not... quite ready to go yet." Remembering that he had to stall Twilight and Neo, then he said, "Where's Neo?" Twilight said, "He's just coming out of the steam room." Neo came out of the steam room, his body was nice and shiny, Twilight said, "Wow Neo, you look all sparkly, how are you feeling?" Neo said, "I'm feeling a little better, but my neck and back are still a little sore, I think I'm gonna need a good massage." Twilight said, "You know what, I think I'll have one too, we'll both have a traditional massage." Then the 2 Spa ponies came in, the blue pony said, "Did somepony order a massage?" Twilight said, "Yes ma'am, Neo and I need a traditional massage." The Spa ponies smiled with delight, the pink spa pony said, "Come with me Princess." The blue pony went up to Neo and said, "Come with me please." The Spa ponies took both Neo and Twilight into the massage room while Spike waited for them in the waiting room, he kept thinking about how he was going to stall them.

Meanwhile at the castle, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were trying to decide what decorations to take down and what decorations to leave up, sadly, they weren't taking very much down. All except Rarity had taken down a decoration and Applejack said that she had to take something down as well, but she couldn't decide, she loved and adored all the decorations she had put up. Rainbow Dash tried to get her to take down some things but Rarity kept making excuses to leave them up, Rainbow Dash had put up a portrait of all the mane 6 and Neo that was taken sometime after Twilight became Princess, she decided to take it down since they all know what they look like and Rarity finally decided to take down some posters, but she wasn't very happy about it. Applejack tried to calm down everypony and she said that they should try to work together to remove the clutter, of course Applejack didn't want Rarity taking down her quilts. Then Pinkie Pie told Fluttershy to tell her birds to stop pecking on her balloons, Fluttershy just said that the animals don't like getting scared by her party cannons, Pinkie Pie said that she couldn't get rid of the party cannons because she forgot where she hid them. And so the 5 ponies kept arguing with each other about the decorations and what to clean up and the castle wasn't getting any better.

Meanwhile, Neo, Twilight and Spike were leaving the Spa center, as they left, Twilight said to Neo, "I feel so relaxed now, how do you feel Neo?" Neo replied, "I feel so much better, my neck and my back feel wonderful, those Spa ponies are the best, I'd take the Spa ponies over a human massage therapist any day." Twilight giggled and said, "Well that's very sweet, and I'm glad you feel better, I always put my friends before myself." Neo said, "That's what makes you a wonderful friend." Twilight blushed and said, "Awww, thanks." To stall them some more, Spike suggested that they take another route back to the castle, at first Twilight wasn't sure about that, but Spike talked her into it.

As they were walking, they passed by the remains of the Golden Oak Library, which was Twilight's former home, Twilight, Neo and Spike looked at the remains, Twilight said, "I really miss this place, guys. We had so many wonderful memories here." Spike said, "We did, didn't we?" Neo said, "This was a nice place to live." Twilight said, "It sure was." Neo looked at Twilight and said, "I remember when I first came to Equestria, and you opened your home to me and I had fun living here with you, I cherished every moment we had in this place." Twilight said, "Oh I'm so glad you loved it here, and I enjoyed having you as a roommate." Neo said, "Didn't Princess Celestia ask you to let me live with you?" Twilight said, "Oh of course not, I didn't let you stay with me because Princess Celestia asked me to, I let you live with me out of my own free will, out of the goodness of my heart, and you were a pleasure to live with." Neo felt like crying, he said, "Oh Twilight, you really are a true friend and a wonderful pony, you certainly deserve to be called the Princess of Friendship, I can't thank you enough for opening your home to me and being my friend." Twilight smiled sweetly and said, "Of course Neo, I was more than happy to be your friend and let you live with me."

Neo was so happy by her words, Twilight was indeed the best friend he ever had, she was like a sister to him, Neo gave Twilight a hug and said, "Oh Twilight, you're so wonderful." Twilight blushed and said, "Awww, thank you, you're a wonderful human." And she hugged him back, Spike just awed at the sweet moment and he joined in the hug, Neo said, "Best friends forever." Twilight said, "Of course, and so are the other girls, we will always be friends forever." Neo called Twilight his sister as they hugged, Twilight felt so happy to hear him say that, she was such a wonderful friend to him that he would even think of her as his sister, Twilight hugged him tighter, enjoying the magic of their friendship, Neo was so thankful to have a wonderful friend like Twilight and the ponies, and Spike too. After they hugged, Twilight said, "I love you very much Neo and my home will always be your home." Neo said, "Thank you Twilight, I love you so much." Twilight blushed and giggled after his sweet comment, Neo said, "I wonder if the castle will ever feel like home like the library was." Twilight said, "I'm sure the girls are doing their best to make the castle feel like home, since my home is your home too, is there anything the girls and I can do for you to make the castle feel like home for you?" Neo thought for a second and said, "I could use a new bed." Twilight said, "Okay, let's go see what they've got at the bed store." Spike was happy to hear that since he had to keep stalling them, and so Neo, Twilight and Spike went to the bed store to see if they could find a new bed for Neo."

Back at the castle, the girls had finally cleaned up the clutter, but now the throne room looked just like the way it was before, Fluttershy said, "What do we do now?" Rarity said, "I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but it's almost sunset. If we don't figure this out soon, it's going to look like we didn't lift a hoof to help her!" Rainbow Dash said, "Why is this so hard?! We're Neo and Twilight's best friends! This should be easy for us!" Applejack said, "Twilight said it herself – if anypony should be able to make her feel comfortable in her new home, it's us. If we can't do it..." Fluttershy said, "Then Neo and Twilight will be stuck living in a castle that makes them feel... sad!" Fluttershy said it loud enough to where it echoed throughout the hall, Pinkie Pie said, "Wow, Fluttershy! I didn't know you could be loud enough to echo!"

Then the girls left the castle and went to look at the remains of the Golden Oak Library, as the ponies looked at the library, Pinkie Pie said, "What do we do? What do we do?! If Neo and Twilight come home now, they'll be like "What did you guys do?" And we'll have to be like "Nothing!" And then they'll be like "I was counting on you! Some friends you are!" And we'll be like..." And she screamed and mocked crying, Applejack said, "Calm down, Pinkie. We just need to figure out what we did wrong so we can make it right." Rarity said, "Well, I didn't do anything wrong! I did exactly what I would do if it were my home!" Rainbow Dash said, "But it's not your home. It's Neo and Twilight's home!" Fluttershy quietly said, "Maybe we're all a little guilty of making ourselves feel at home instead of Twilight." Applejack said, "Come on, y'all. We just need to think about Twilight. What was it she'd loved about livin' in the Golden Oak Library?" Fluttershy said, "Oh, everything! The books, the smell of books, the joy she felt from organizing books..." Rainbow Dash had a memory and said, "Remember that time I crashed into all those books attempting my sonic rainboom after you guys just cleaned up? That was good times." Applejack said, "Yeah, for you maybe." Rarity said, " Oh, and Applejack, remember when we were stuck having a sleepover there? Neo was even with us and he had a great time just being with us. That turned out to be so much fun!" Pinkie Pie said, "Remember the time it got blown up to smithereens?! Wait, no, that was the worst." Applejack said, "We had a lot of good memories there, though. That's what made the Golden Oak Library home."

The ponies agreed, Applejack realized that they had been decorating the castle like they would decorate their own homes, but they needed to decorate the castle with things that would make it feel like home for Neo and Twilight, but then Applejack had an idea, all the memories of Twilight living in the Golden Oak Library is what made the library feel like home, but she also had to think about Neo, there wasn't anything in the castle that made the castle feel like home for him. But she knew what he liked and she was now more familiar with what humans do for fun, she knew exactly who could help them out with making the castle feel like home for Neo, Applejack smiled, looked at the girls and said, "Girls, I know what to do."

End of chapter 9, chapter 10 coming soon.

My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 10

The Castle is Home

The mane 6 were once again back at the castle, trying to redecorate it to make it feel like home for Neo and Twilight, Neo, Twilight and Spike were now at a bed store, looking to see if they could find a new bed for Neo. Spike kept them looking at different beds just to keep them from going to the castle until the girls were finished decorating. Spike was able to stall them for 2 more hours, after looking at almost every bed in the store, they finally left and headed back to the castle, Spike could no longer stall them and he was hoping that the ponies were finished decorating the castle.

When they got back to the castle, they walked in and Twilight said, "Hello? We're home!" They walked into the hall and at first, everything still looked the same before they left, the 5 ponies approached them and said, "Welcome home." Twilight and Neo looked down the hallway and they saw some posters hanging on the walls, Twilight looked around at the hallway and said, "Oh, I, uh... love what you've done with the place. You did such a good job of... preserving the integrity of the original design." Spike said, "Aw, come on! It looks exactly the same, not counting the posters! Do you know how hard it was to keep them from coming back here?! I never want to see another dust ruffle as long as I live!" Twilight got surprised and said, "Wait. Keep us from coming back here?" Neo said, "You were keeping us away from here?" Rarity laughed nervously and said, "Sorry about that, but we wanted to surprise you two when you came home, and it took a teensy bit longer than we thought." Applejack said, "What really makes home feel like home isn't what it looks like. It's the memories you make when you're there." Rarity said, "So we've made something that celebrates the memories we've made with you since you moved to Ponyville."

The ponies opened the door to the throne room and went in, they walked in the room and right above the platform with the thrones hung a chandelier that the ponies made from the roots of the Golden Oak Library tree. The tree root hung on the ceiling and had rows of gemstones and lights hanging from it, Twilight looked at the new chandelier with delight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up to the chandelier, Fluttershy said, "The ornaments on the chandelier are reminders of all the fun we've had together." Pinkie Pie said, "That one shows your party at the Golden Oak Library welcoming you to Ponyville!" Fluttershy said, "The time we shared donuts after the Grand Galloping Gala, but that was the time after Neo left to compete in the Mortal Kombat tournament." Pinkie Pie said, "Oh and here's the one that shows my welcome party for Neo when he first came to Ponyville." Inside the gemstones were small pictures of memorable moment of Twilight's life in Ponyville, some of them had Neo in the picture and some didn't. Rarity said, "We were hoping that being able to look at your beautiful old memories would inspire you to make new ones." Applejack said, "And the best part of it is, it's made from the roots of the Golden Oak Library, so you'll never forget where you came from." Twilight was so happy, she felt like crying, she said, "It's exactly what the castle needed. And I am ready to make new memories here."

Neo was happy for Twilight, but he felt a little disappointed, Applejack noticed and said, "What's wrong there Neo, are you alright?" The ponies made concerned faces, including Twilight and Spike, Neo said, "Well I'm happy that the castle feels like home for Twilight, but it still doesn't feel like home for me." Rarity looked at Applejack, they both smiled and winked at each other, then Rarity said to Neo, "Neo, we have a big surprise for you." Applejack said, "Yeah, after you see our surprise, you'll love living in this here castle, come with us."

The ponies went out into the hallway and Neo followed them, Twilight was also curious about the surprise they had for Neo, the ponies walked Neo down the hall, Neo saw a bunch of posters hanging on the walls in the hallway. Neo saw a poster of the Child's Play movie that Chucky starred in back in 1988, and the next few doors down hung a poster of Child's Play 2, the ponies hung those up in honor of their friend Chucky who was also living in the castle as well. Other posters included Gothic scenery, Gothic angels, there were even some posters of movies that Neo starred in, directed or was involved in, most of which were horror and action films. Neo said, "Wow girls, nice job decorating the hall, Applejack said, "You ain't seen nothin' yet sugarcube, wait until ya see what we did to some of the rooms."

The ponies walked down the hall and stopped at a door, Rarity opened the door and Neo went into the room, Neo looked around the room and he couldn't believe what he saw, the entire room was filled with video games, it looked just like a video game arcade. There were video game arcade games all around the room, the games included Maximum Force, The House of the Dead, Carnevil, Hydro Thunder, The Ocean Hunter, Pac Man, a dancing game, classic video games, Pinball games, and so much more, it was just like a Chuck E Cheese, there was also a pool table in the room, a Foosball table, an air hockey table, and a small miniature golf set. There was also a small mini bar in the room, there was bar chairs, light up bar signs and some beer bottles around the bar, the room seemed to be like a Chuck E Cheese and a bar combined into one. Neo was so surprised by the room, it was the best thing he had ever seen, even Twilight was surprised by the room, she had never seen anything like it. Rarity walked in and said, "Well what do you think darling?" Neo said, "Oh Rarity, I love it, he hugged her and said, "Thank you so much, you girls are the best." Rarity blushed and said, "Oh, you're very welcome, but come with us, we have so much more to show you." Neo was excited to see what other things the girls did with the castle.

They took him to another room, Rarity opened the door and Neo walked in, there was nothing much in the room, over in the corner of the room was a screen and some buttons, Neo went to the screen, he pushed a button on there and the room suddenly changed, clouds went around the room and it appeared that Neo was walking on clouds, Neo walked on the clouds for a few minutes and then the clouds disappeared and the room changed back to like it was. That's when Neo realized that the ponies turned this room into a virtual reality room. Neo once again thanked the ponies and they showed him more rooms that they had improved just for him. One room was a theater room just like in a movie theater, the room had rows of seats and a gigantic theater screen. Another room had a hot tub that Neo could relax in and the ponies could use it as well. Another room was full of gym equipment including treadmills, weights, barbells, and various workout machines. And there was a room with recording equipment where Neo could record his music. And finally, the ponies showed Neo his bedroom, they had decorated it with things he liked, including Gothic posters, Heavy Metal band posters, some framed pictures of him and his friends from the past, and many more, there was even a king sized bed just for him.

After showing him all the room they made just for him, Neo was so happy. Neo looked at the ponies and they all smiled at him, even Twilight was happy for him, he just didn't know what to say. But before he could, Rarity said they had one more thing to show him, she took him to the hallway, at the end of the hallway was a controller stand with some buttons on it. Rarity told him to push the button in the middle, Neo pushed the button and suddenly, the room went dark for a second, then tiny lights shined around the room that looked like stars, it looked the hallway had turned into his homeland, the hallway looked exactly like Neo's homeland, the Twilight Zone. There were rows of stars like you would see in Space, there were galaxy images and more. Neo floated around the room looking around at everything in the hallway, the controller stand was a hologram projector and it was making the entire hallway look like the Twilight Zone.

As Neo floated around the room, the ponies and Spike smiled with delight, they could tell that Neo was enjoying it, Neo sang a song as he floated around the room, he sang, "Flying, flying through the Twilight Zone, the stars are shining bright and still and there's so much to see, flying, flying through the Twilight Zone, the stars are shining bright and still and there's so much to see." Neo looked over and saw light shining through some stars and a galaxy moving around, then he sang, "Flying, flying through the Twilight Zone... the stars are shining bright and still and there's so much to see." As he sang that verse, an image of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek slowly flew across the hallway, then it zoomed off with a large blue light coming from it, when it was gone, the hologram turned off and the hallway was back to normal.

Neo flew back down to the floor and the ponies trotted over to him. Neo said to his friends, "Oh girls, thank you so much for everything you've done for me to make this castle feel like home, now this castle truly does feel like home, but I have one question, how did you do all this, where did you get all this stuff from?" Rarity said, "We contacted some of your human friends from your world, they came here and brought all the things, and they installed all the virtual reality equipment and the controller stand that you just tried out." Neo said, "Wow, that's awesome, how did you contact them?" Rarity said, "Applejack and I learned how to make calls through your IPad and that's how we called them, we asked them to come here to help us redecorate the castle to make it feel like home for you." Neo was surprised, but he said, "Well that explains everything, you girls are the best friends I've ever had, thank you so much, this castle truly feels like home now." Neo gave Rarity a hug, she giggled and hugged him back, then the other ponies and Spike joined in and they all shared a big group hug. As they hugged, Neo said, "I love you girls so much." The ponies and Spike replied, "We love you too Neo."

There were plenty of rooms in the entire castle, there were probably 100 rooms, even though the ponies redecorated some of the rooms just for Neo, there were still plenty of other rooms that could be used for guests and more, Twilight even had her own library in the castle. After they hugged, Rainbow Dash mentioned that there were some Daring Do posters in her library and Fluttershy said that there were some stuffed animals in her bedroom. Neo turned to Twilight and she smiled at him, Neo said, "We'll make beautiful memories here Twilight." Twilight grinned and said, "We sure will, and we're gonna start making those memories right now."

Then Neo, Spike and the ponies went into the dining room, the dining room appeared to have been completely refurbished, even Twilight couldn't believe it, there were flowers, a table with different treats and a statue of Twilight in the middle, and a gold chandelier hanging from the ceiling, there was a huge chocolate layer cake that Pinkie Pie had made on the table, Twilight loved the newly refurbished dining room and so did Neo.

Suddenly there was a loud noise, Twilight said, "What was that?" Applejack sighed and said, "One of Pinkie Pie's confetti cannons." Pinkie Pie said, "What? It's not my fault I hid them so well." The ponies laughed, they were all so happy. And so Neo, Spike and the ponies celebrated Neo and Twilight's new home, they ate cake and other treats and were having a wonderful time together, and Neo was having just as much fun. Neo felt like this place was where he truly belonged and he was very thankful for it, this castle truly felt like home now, and to Neo, it may be a castle, but it truly is home."

End of chapter 10, The End.