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.