"It can't end like this..." Twilight said, puffing out her chest as she looked out at the path which she and the rest of the group had entered the cave through. "After what Starlight's done to the ponies of this town, both her and the Dark Mark can't be allowed to get off scot-free!"

"But how are we gonna find her now?" Sugar Belle asked with a slight hint of defeat in her voice. "Even if we get out, there's no way we'd be able to find her just now escaping. She and the Dark Mark teleported out, so they could already be at Canterlot for all we know!"

"She's not the only one who's been studying magic for years, as I've mentioned before," Twilight said, illuminating her horn for a spell. "I've actually earned my Alicorn role for my skills in magic. So, I've got access to some of the most advanced spells that no single unicorn could ever accomplish themselves."

She then took in a gasp of air. "Alright, I'm going to cast a spell that traces Dark Magic and follows it," Twilight began explaining to the group. "With any luck, it should give us the exact trail that Starlight and the Dark Mark took out of this place..."

"Then what are ya waitin' for, Twilight?!" Rainbow Dash encouraged her. "Cast that spell and let's get after them again!"

Hearing Rainbow Dash's words of encouragement, Twilight's horn lit up and illuminated every portion of the caves, lighting up the walls with a bright shade of magenta. This was only there for one second, but it kept on reverberating, as if it was some kind of sonar for the group of ponies to use in finding Starlight Glimmer.

Eventually, Twilight's magic changed colour, so that it now matched that of Starlight's. She used this to decipher a spectral trail that traveled through the air. That trail was composed of teal and black air, and served as a trail to lead them out of the caves. Twilight smiled when she saw the trail, but kept her composure so that she could continue to maintain the spell for the group to follow.

"I've got the trail, but we've gotta move," Twilight said, getting the group to return to their hooves once again. "Even though this is a direct line to Starlight and the Dark Mark, there's a chance that they might have taken a technical, dangerous, or temporary path to stop us..."

"Either way, it's a risk we'll have to take, Twilight," Double Diamond said, putting one of his hooves around Twilight's shoulders. "If Starlight takes more Cutie Marks from unsuspecting ponies, who knows just how powerful that Dark Mark is going to get?"

"You're absolutely right, Double Diamond," Twilight said, feeling more compelled to bring the unicorn to justice for what she'd done. "If Starlight keeps swindling everyone's destinies, then things could keep spiraling out of control! We've gotta follow her, no matter the risk!"

"Go ahead, Twilight! We're right behind you!" Night Glider said, bumping hooves with Rainbow Dash as the two of them went airborne.

"Thank you, everyone," Twilight said as the entire group went running after Starlight Glimmer once again. "You're all such good friends for helping me out in all this..."

"Don't sweat it, Twilight," Double Diamond said as they climbed back up the pathway in the massive cave portion. "Friendships are sign of unity, not the other way around. Starlight failed to notice that, and now she's about to pay the price for it!"

"Yeah! We'll stand by each other no matter the weather!" Night Glider said with vigor as she zipped through the next part of the caves. "No amount of unity or similarities are gonna stop us now!"

"Our destinies are what we choose for them to be, not ones given to us by some fraud with dreams of equality!" Party Favor added his own words of encouragement to Twilight and her friends' already building morale.

"As long as we're together, we don't need to be the same! That's what makes each of us unique!" Sugar Belle said as they continued to follow the trail that Twilight had traced for them. "Some petty differences won't slow us down anymore, nor will they drive us apart!"

"That's what I like to hear, everypony," Twilight smiled as her confidence peaked with her sudden increase in running speed. "Now come on! Let's put an end to Starlight and the Dark Mark!"

"There's the exit!" Twilight said, seeing the snow-capped mountains appear at the end of the tunnel ahead of them all. "Now we've got them!"

The group all ran back out into the tundra, the temperature already returning to a suitable climate for the terrain around them. This time, though, there were howling winds, signalling that there was a snowstorm inbound. If they didn't find Starlight Glimmer and the Dark Mark in time, then they would lose them in the haze of the snowstorm.

"Where is she?" Twilight asked, seeing that her spell instantly fizzled out when she began to shiver. Once it did, the trail vanished, leaving the group in the dark once again.

Suddenly, a bolt of magic struck the ground right at Twilight's feet, getting her to look at where the shot had come from. She saw her target quite clearly. Starlight Glimmer was firing on her, raring to get a good shot at her. Twilight nimbly dodged out of the way of two more magical bolts, before firing some bolts of her own right back at Starlight.

After one successful hit, Starlight was sent sliding down one of the mountains. Twilight immediately gave chase after the slipping unicorn by riding the snow down after her. She was shortly followed by Double Diamond, Rainbow Dash and Night Glider, with the rest of the group sliding down shortly after they'd caught up to Twilight.

"My, my... you ponies really are the reckless type, aren't you?" Starlight said as she remained serene even though the group were relenetlessly pursuing her down the snow-capped mountainside.

"Why'd you do such a cruel thing to the ponies of this town?!" Twilight demanded as she brushed some snow out of her eyes to keep her gaze on Starlight Glimmer.

"Equines are driven by selfish desires when they're blank-flanks. They think only of acquiring destinies that lead them to eternal servitude!" Starlight spoke out after she landed at the mountain foot and began running once more. "I'm saving Equestria from itself! When ponies realize that all Cutie Marks are evil, there will be NO MORE CHAOS!"

"And what evidence do you have to back this theory up?!" Twilight said, seeing that Starlight was merely raging once more without giving a more logical reason. "From what I see, you're just a traitorous coward who's afraid of what other ponies can do with their Cutie Marks!"

"Starlight Glimmer has a point, fillies and gentlecolts," the Dark Mark appeared next to her like a phantom. "The ponies of Equestria are a selfish race. They only care about their Cutie Marks as fillies and colts, then they become slaves to whatever their Cutie Marks tell them. They really are a fickle bunch..."

"Yeah right! Fickle bunch my flank, Dark Mark!" Rainbow Dash tried to perform a flying kick, but found herself flying straight through him, like he wasn't even real.

"Furthermore, the process of the dark side of a pony's Cutie Mark is more complex than you might think it is," said the Dark Mark as Starlight fired a series of powerful black bolts at the ground, causing small thorns to grow out of nowhere. "Ponies desire Cutie Marks... show their Cutie Marks to the world... become selfish and independent with their Cutie Marks... become eternal, yet blissfully unaware slaves with their Cutie Marks... and finally, the root of everypony's actions are caused by the fact that their Cutie Marks are linked with their destinies..."

"If everypony could only accept the future of a world where no-one has to be a slave to their own Cutie Mark, then we'd all be happy. Can't you see that this is what I've been talking about?!" Starlight fired a wave of energy that would have knocked the pursing group onto their butts if not for Twilight shooting right through it and breaking the wave.

"Yeah, I can see it alright. But it's not a very pleasant world to live in, if you ask me..." Twilight said, in a much calmer tone than before. She could now see what Starlight was talking about, but there was a nightmarish element to this utopian world that she envisioned, almost as if utopia only meant sadness and chaos in a sense. "Which is why you've given us no choice but to oppose you, Starlight Glimmer..."

"Well, that's very brave of you ponies, but me and the Dark Mark... we won't be holding back anymore..." Starlight smirked as she radiated with Dark Magic.

The chase continued through the bottom of the pass, the ponies all swooping and swerving around mountain feet, desperately trying to evade capture or end Starlight Glimmer's insane plot. All the while, Twilight and the Dark Mark were firing at each other, both sides trying to deal a crippling blow that would end the chase. However, it seemed that the Dark Mark had the upper hand, as most of Twilight's shots merely went through it, and didn't deal it any physical damage whatsoever.

"Ugh... You're starting to get on my nerves, ponies..." Starlight lit up her horn, but it now glowed white as the snow around her. "Try this!" Then, without warning, Starlight fired at the ground behind her, causing a massive flash of light to engulf and stun the ponies whilst she could make her escape.

For Twilight and the group of ponies, it felt like they'd just become heavily drugged by the burst of light, as they were quite disoriented with how bright it was. The intense light remained in their eyes for four seconds before they saw Starlight and the Dark Mark make another turn and disappear from their sight.

"We can't let her escape now!" Twilight said, rallying the party for a group effort. "Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash! You and... uhh... who are you?"

"Night Glider," she said. "You want us to do aerial recon, right?"

"Yes, that's precisely it," Twilight said, beginning her plan for restarting the chase with Starlight Glimmer. "The four of us will be in the skies, leading the rest of you towards Starlight and the Dark Mark. She may try some defensive measures, but we can't let her abscond with the princesses' Cutie Marks..."

"What are we waiting for then?! Let's get going!" Rainbow Dash said before taking off at incredible speeds, beginning her effort in the aerial search for Starlight and the Dark Mark.

As soon as Twilight, Fluttershy, and Night Glider took to the skies as well, Double Diamond and Party Favour began leading the ground ponies, keeping a close eye on Twilight and the aerial team.

The search was for a decent period of time, but eventually, Twilight found Starlight and the Dark Mark and said, "There they are! Turn eastwards, everypony!"

Complying with Twilight's words, the group chased Starlight into another section of icy mountains, where they were hoping that that would end the chase. They quickly caught back up with Starlight, but she was already launching spells in conjunction with the Dark Mark's own brand of Dark Magic.

Twilight even tried sealing Starlight in a magical cage, but the Dark Mark instantly destroyed it with a single slash of one of his ethereal claws. The two of them began running again, much to Twilight's dismay.

"They're relentless, aren't they?" Starlight said to the Dark Mark as she looked at all ten ponies begin to close the gap between them.

"Yes, quite..." the Dark Mark said, levitating Starlight up before vanishing into her body with a black stream following him. "But then again... SO ARE WE!"

"What the hay's the Dark Mark doing with Starlight?" Night Glider asked, seeing Starlight become enveloped in a ball of Dark Magic once the Dark Mark disappeared into her body.

"Using us for target practice!" Twilight said, noticing that the newly enhanced Starlight Glimmer flew up out of the mountains and was about to fire some deadly spells on the group.

As soon as Twilight finished talking, Starlight fired a large beam of energy and swung it around like a massive sword of energy. In doing so, she took out multiple mountain tops and created avalanches of a colossal magnitude. The scale of all the falling snow was massive, and it made the ground ponies flinch in horror with how much snow would likely bury them if they were caught in the middle of the tumbling masses of snow. Luckily for them, they were flown out of the avalanche area by the air team, then put down in a much safer area.

"Okay, now that was close..." Rainbow Dash and Night Glider said in unison, then looked at each other in surprise. "Jinx!"

Twilight fired a quick shot at the massive sphere of darkness that Starlight Glimmer was concealed in, breaking her concentration for a brief period of time before turning her gaze to that of Twilight. Sparing no warning, the two of them fired colossal lasers of energy against each other, the sparks flying off into the distance and striking some arctic clouds with how powerful the blast was.

From there, Starlight screamed and flew backwards towards a large open area, growing the Dark Mark's wings as a sign that she had fused with the thing. She scorned Twilight under her breath and saw what looked like a massive crater. She believed that that would be the perfect place to defeat the Main Six, as well as the four ponies that travelled with them.

"What's that?" Double Diamond asked, seeing the massive crater that Starlight and the Dark Mark flew into.

"It looks like a crater of sorts..." Twilight said, examining the colossal hole in the ground that could serve as a fitting arena for a final confrontation.

"Well, whatever it is, Starlight and the Dark Mark just flew into it, so we'd better go after her..." Rainbow Dash said, seeing that Starlight and the Dark Mark separated themselves from each other once they landed at the epicentre of the crater.

"Alright then, everypony. But be careful..." Twilight warned them as they slid down the walls into the crater, stopping themselves before the land became even again. "We don't know what Starlight and the Dark Mark are capable of now, besides what we just saw back there. Be ready for anything..."