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.