With every step they took towards their destination, Twilight and their friends kept a watchful eye on every pony they met. Everypony here seemed amiable at least, giving a welcoming smile or even the occasional wave. Visitors, apparently, weren't seen as anything to regard with any attitude other than warmth. But even with this good mood persisting, Twilight couldn't help but feel that something was off. After all, the Map had called them here, so something had to be going wrong in this place. As they moved, their eyes drifted to the homes they passed. Each one, while largely identical, nevertheless seemed to be well-constructed, using not only good-quality materials but also having been designed with a number of expert-level architectural flourishes, which Rarity especially seemed to fawn over. But, after having walked for a while now, there came a point when their guide, Diamond, halted, looking back to the group.

"Okay, she's right in here."

He gestured to the home they now stood next to, and Twilight regarded it thoughtfully for a time. Then, her gaze turned. For they were very close to the centre of town now, and just a short way away, they could see that large building that they could see from the ridge before. She had, at first, likened it to the Ponyville Town Hall, but in reality, it was more like a temple in appearance, forged of polished marble and bearing a number of exquisitely-carved columns. And, as ever, there was that glow, which flowed out of every window. Twilight narrowed her eyes at it, but for the time being, she looked over to Double, giving him a nod.

"Alright...let's meet this founder."

Double nodded, and headed over to the front door of the house, opening it and starting to enter. Twilight and the others followed suit, and before long, they were inside. To the house's credit, it appeared to be well-furnished. A great manner of comfortable furniture and woodwork was abound here, and all of it appeared to have been hoof-made. It just looked like an ordinary home. Nothing scary or sinister about it at all, and considering that scary and sinister was something Twilight was expecting, that only served to disturb her more. But then, within moments, she finally noticed that they were not alone here. There, on the other side of the room, were two mares, who currently had their backs to them. They were both unicorns, each with pink fur and purple manes. But one had a mane that was full of curls, while the other's style was far more straight. Before them both was a desk, and upon it was what appeared to be blueprints of some building.

"Do you think this will work, Starlight?" the mare with the curly mane asked.

The other mare, Starlight, gave a nod.

"It will. We've been needing a larger medical clinic for some time, Sugar. You say Party was able to find the right stone for it?"

Sugar nodded.

"Yes. In the mountainside just east of here. You know, where that old quarry was? Turns out there was more left over than it's past owners thought."

Starlight considered that.

"Alright. Talk to Night and Feather. Tell them they need to head on over and give Party some help. I need to get back to checking the progress on the aqueduct."

Sugar opened her mouth to speak, only to stop when, just then, she finally noticed that they had visitors.

"Oh! Um...Starlight...?"

The other mare turned, seeming just a touch surprised when she saw Double here, especially when she noticed too that he was not alone here.

"Guests, Double?"

The white stallion chuckled, before gesturing to Twilight.

"Yep. This is Twilight Sparkle. She and her friends just arrived."

Starlight regarded them, then gave a nod. She turned, lighting up her horn and carefully folding up the blueprints on the desk, before turning in earnest to meet her new visitors.

"Sorry. You caught me at a pretty busy time. I'm Starlight Glimmer. Pleased to meet you."

The tone she'd said those words in didn't seem to suggest that she was being dishonest in that, and her smile seemed genuine too. So, remembering her manners, Twilight returned the smile, stretching out her hoof.

"Twilight Sparkle. Thank you for having us here."

Starlight, graciously accepting that hoof and giving it a good shake, looked her over carefully, and as such, it wasn't long before she, of course, noted the pair of wings the mare had, prompting her to raise an eyebrow.

"I take it I'm dealing with a Princess here?"

A nervous chuckle escaped Twilight, but before she had a chance to answer, Rainbow did it for her, speaking in her usual confident way as she did so.

"You'd better believe it! This right here is Equestria's Princess of Friendship!"

Twilight glared at her for giving that unauthorised announcement, which Rainbow at least had the decency to give a somewhat apologetic laugh to. Starlight for her part, took that new knowledge in, before once more breaking out into a smile.

"Well...let it never be said that we don't know how to treat royalty properly here."

With that, she gave a deep bow, one Twilight was well used to seeing from the regular citizens of Equestria by this point. Even so, she couldn't help but be a little embarrassed by it all.

"Oh, you don't need to do that. Just treat me like anypony else."

Raising herself up, Starlight let out a brief chortle.

"Trust me, in this town, that’s a sentiment we can all get behind."

For a moment, Twilight was confused, but, much like before, she remained quiet. For just like with Rainbow earlier, she now found herself interrupted by one of her friends. This time, it was Pinkie, who darted right past her and spoke to Starlight in her usual energetic way.

"So why don't any of you have cutie marks? That's pretty weird."

Rarity's head snapped in the direction of her party-loving friend, eyes wide.

"Pinkie! That was most uncalled for!"

Pinkie herself seemed confused at her friend's unhappy remark, but Starlight, by contrast, seemed to take no issue in the question, instead letting out another laugh.

"Oh, don't worry. It's perfectly fine for her to ask. Most ponies do."

Looking to her, Twilight gained a look that was, it had to be said, more than a little inquisitive.

"Pinkie's lack of tact aside...it is a rather...odd thing to find out here. In truth...none of us have ever even heard of this town before."

Starlight nodded, glancing to Sugar beside her.

"Well, we can certainly understand that. We try to keep to ourselves out here. Don’t want to bother anypony. So I’m not surprised that nopony really knows about us.”

Looking to Twilight fully, Starlight let out a sigh.

“In truth, we always knew this was going to mean a lot of explanation if anypony official was to come along. And...well...here you are."

Twilight shifted uncomfortably at having been referred to that way, even though she knew from Starlight's voice that there had been no insult intended in it. And speaking of whom, the Town's founder paused for a time, appearing to be deep in thought for a while.

“Although...I am a little curious as to why you’re here.”

Naturally, Twilight was feeling a little uncertain as to how best to word her presence here. Then, in a surprising move, it was Fluttershy who did so.

“We’re here to solve a friendship problem.”

Starlight looked to her, understandably confused.

“A...friendship problem?”

Then, before anypony could stop her, Pinkie began to explain matters in a rapid-fire way.

“Yep! Twilight’s got this big magic castle thing, and just the other day we were all siting down on these fancy chairs, when wham! This super-flashy table showed up, and there was this map, and it pointed straight to your town! So, with all of us being kind of Equestria’s resident experts on Friendships, we all figured there must be somepony out here who needed help with that!”

As one would expect after a barrage like that, everypony looked to Pinkie with more than a little uncertainty, Starlight especially.

“Well...um...that’s...quite the story.”

Twilight blushed at that, but stayed quiet as Starlight continued.

“Still...strange as that story was...if you're going to be that forthcoming with us...we might as well return the courtesy.”

Placing her hoof to her chin, she pondered.

"I suppose...if I'm going to explain, it might be best to..."

But then, all of them were taken aback by the sudden and loud sound of the door bursting open. All eyes turned to see a unicorn stallion, with bright blue fur and a dark-blue curly mane, enter the house.

"Starlight! You gotta...!"

However, within an instant, he noticed her guests, and immediately looked embarrassed.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Are...are you busy?"

Starlight sighed, rolling her eyes.

"No, Party. It's fine. We were just explaining things to our visitors."

A look of confusion came to her, and she frowned slightly at her colleague.

"Hey...aren't you supposed to be scoping out the quarry by the mountain?"

A blush came to him, but then he soon recovered from it.

"Yeah...I am. But..."

A smile soon came to him.

"It's Sweet Sprinkle! She's...she's got her cutie mark!"

All of the present townsfolk's faces lit up at this, and they all looked to each other with excitement. Twilight, meanwhile, looked over to her friends, and they all shared the same look of confusion.

"Um...begin' yer pardon...but ah thought y'all didn’ have cutie marks here?" Applejack remarked.

Turning to face them again, Starlight nodded.

"That's true...but also not."

The look on the six mares' faces made it clear that more would need to be said. But, before Starlight could do so, Party interrupted her.

"Maybe you should show them? Sweet says she wants to go through with it. Right now!"

Starlight glanced over to him, surprised.

"Really? Already?"

Party nodded, prompting Starlight to consider that. After a while of thinking the matter over, the unicorn mare resumed her smile, stepping forward and speaking confidently to the young Princess before her.

"In that case...Princess...would you care to join me...and see what our Town's all about?"

Twilight, who was still understandably nonplussed about all of this nevertheless gave a nod.

"Well...it would certainly help our purpose here. Lead the way, Miss Starlight."

Next Chapter: Marks and Magic Estimated time remaining: 38 Minutes